Feb. 6, 2005
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The 25th-ranked University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team (6-2) lost 6-1 to #9 Duke (3-1) Sunday afternoon in the Eck Tennis Pavilion. The lone Irish point came from sophomore Barry King (Dublin, Ireland/Gonzaga College), who registered his fourth victory against a nationally-ranked player – and second in as many matches – with a triumph at No. 3. Notre Dame, which dropped a 9-7 decision in the decisive match to lose the doubles point, will return to action next Sunday, Feb. 13, in a home doubleheader, playing host to Marquette at 1 p.m. (EST) and the University of Indianapolis at 5:30 p.m. in the Eck Pavilion.
The Blue Devils, whose lone defeat this season was a 5-2 decision at #5 Illinois on Friday, got wins at Nos. 1 and 3 doubles to win the match’s first point and then registered straight-set victories at Nos. 1, 2, 4, and 5 in singles before adding a match-tiebreaker triumph at No. 6.
King, ranked 112th in the nation in singles, provided the bright spot for the Irish by defeating #106 Stephen Amritraj 7-6 (7-4), 6-2. The decision came after the Irishman defeated #53 Roger Gubser of Texas by exactly the same scores (including in the tiebreaker) on Friday. King now stands 12-5 on the season, including 6-2 in dual-match action at Nos. 2 and 3. He is 4-3 vs. nationally-ranked foes, after having defeated #26 Jeff Kader of William & Mary and #50 Chris Martin of Illinois in fall play. King nearly notched another victory against a ranked player last weekend, as he served for the match in the second set against #91 Jeff Groslimond of Florida State before eventually being edged 6-7 (1-7), 7-5, 7-6 (7-5). The Notre Dame sophomore is now 4-1 in tiebreakers this season and 13-1 when winning the opening set.
The doubles proved to be decisive in the contest. The final match on court – with both teams having registered one victory already – was the No. 3 tilt between Duke’s pair of Frenchmen – Ludovic Walter and Charles Brezac – and Notre Dame’s team of King and fellow sophomore Stephen Bass (Bronxville, N.Y./Iona Preparatory School). The teams traded breaks early – in the third and fourth games – but the serves would then hold out for most of the match. After a net-cord winner allowed King to hold serve to tie the score at 7-7, Brezac held in a tight game that went to deuce, but eventually ended on a backhand volley winner from Walter off an Irish return. With Bass serving to send the match into a tiebreaker, the Blue Devils went up 15-30, as – one point after opening the game with an overhead winner – King sailed a backhand volley long and then could not handle a Brezac forehand from the baseline. Walter was stymied by Bass’ next serve, firing a backhand return into the net to even the score at 30-30. Bass then got a game point for the Irish with a big overhead into the stands – right past legendary former Notre Dame head coach Tom Fallon, who was seated in the front row – on the next point. Another big forehand from Brezac – this time down the line off the racket of a lunging Bass – kept Duke in the game. The Blue Devil rookie then answered Bass’ next serve with a low crosscourt return that created a half-volley opportunity that the Irish server could not keep in the court, missing it wide crosscourt. Duke then took advantage of its first match point, as Walter dialed up a big return at a charging Bass, who dumped the ball into the net. The pair of Frenchmen is now unbeaten in three matches as a team – including an 8-6 win vs. Illinois – after Walter played with Jason Zimmerman in the fall as the #2-ranked team in the country.
Notre Dame continued to get strong play from its No. 2 doubles team of junior Eric Langenkamp (Scarsdale, N.Y./Scarsdale H.S.) and freshman Sheeva Parbhu (Omaha, Neb./Millard North H.S.), as they registered an 8-5 victory against Amritraj and Zimmerman to give Notre Dame a chance to win the doubles point. The Irish team now stands 9-2 this season, including 6-1 in dual-match action, which was highlighted by an upset of the 32nd-ranked team in the nation, Florida State’s Groslimond and Chris Westerhof. Langenkamp and Parbhu have won five consecutive matches, defeating teams from Wisconsin, #18 North Carolina, Florida State, Texas, and #9 Duke. They first teamed together in the final event of the fall season, the Crimson Tide Fall Championships, losing to #16 Brett Ross/Derrick Spice of Wake Forest before stringing together three wins to claim the consolation championship. This spring, their lone defeat came against Dmytro Ishtuganov and Jakub Praibis of Indiana, who are undefeated in four matches this spring for the Hoosiers. Langenkamp and Parbhu are 5-1 in the Eck Tennis Pavilion and 6-1 overall in indoor matches. The Irish junior, who had just 16 doubles wins in his first two collegiate seasons – an 8-6 mark in dual action – leads Notre Dame with a 15-8 record in partnered play in 2004-05, including 7-1 in dual play. Parbhu is one of just two other Irish players with winning records in doubles this season, and he trails only his partner in victories, with a 12-6 record.
In the fastest doubles match, the 15th-ranked team in college tennis – Peter Rodrigues and Jonathan Stokke – prevailed by an 8-4 score over Notre Dame senior co-captain Brent D’Amico (Castle Rock, Colo./St. Stephen’s Episcopal School [TX]) and sophomore Ryan Keckley (South Bend, Ind./St. Joseph H.S.) at No. 1. It was the second top-15 team faced by the Irish duo in the last four matches.
Junior Patrick Buchanan (Fullerton, Calif./Servite H.S.) was Notre Dame’s best chance for a second point in singles, as he rallied from losing the first set to force a match tiebreaker, but eventually fell 7-5, 4-6, 1-0 (10-6) against Brezac, who just enrolled at Duke in January, at No. 6. Buchanan continued to struggle in match tiebreakers, losing for the eighth time in a row in a tiebreaker played instead of a third set. The Irish junior was victorious in the first of his collegiate career – against Alexander Fish of William & Mary in the 2002 Tom Fallon Invitational – but has been winless in match tiebreakers since then. He lost for just the fourth time in 25 matches this season, having last month established himself as the fastest Notre Dame player ever to register 20 singles victories in a campaign.
Stokke, ranked 52nd in the nation, was first off the court in singles, claiming a 6-1, 6-4 win against 78th-ranked Bass at No. 2. Rodrigues then followed that up by handing Parbhu his first dual-match loss, a 6-2, 6-1 decision at No. 4. The Duke sophomore – a native of Portugal who was ranked 108th in the preseason – is unbeaten in three matches this spring, having lost just four games in beating Illinois’ Evan Zeder at No. 5 on Friday. Parbhu had won six in a row before Sunday.
Walter, one of the hottest players in all of college tennis, clinched the victory by beating D’Amico 6-2, 6-4 at No. 1. The Frenchman, ranked #6 in the latest ITA national listing, has not lost more than four games in any of his eight sets this spring, which have seen him register straight-set wins against #2 Ryler Deheart of Illinois and #7 Izak van der Merwe of Old Dominion. In the fall, Walter, who now stands 11-2 on the season, reached the round of 16 in the ITA All-American Championships and the quarterfinals of the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships and was the only player to defeat current national #1 Catalin Gard of Mississippi.
After King got Notre Dame on the scoreboard, Duke’s Peter Shults finished a 6-3, 6-4 win against Irish sophomore Irackli Akhvlediani (Vienna, Austria/Vienna International School) at No. 5.
The match was the first battle of top-25 teams including Notre Dame since the 14th-ranked Irish fell 4-1 to #3 Illinois in the round of 16 of the 2002 NCAA Championship. The Blue Devils were the highest-ranked squad to play in the Eck Tennis Pavilion in more than a year, since #9 Texas A&M claimed a 5-2 win against the Irish on Jan. 23, 2004. Duke has won six of its last seven matches against the Irish, including four straight at Notre Dame. The Irish had been 2-0 against Atlantic Coast Conference foes this season, having topped both North Carolina and Florida State last weekend.
#9 Duke 6, #25 Notre Dame 1
Singles
No. 1: *#6 Ludovic Walter (D) def. Brent D’Amico (ND) 6-2, 6-4
No. 2: #52 Jonathan Stokke (D) def. #78 Stephen Bass (ND) 6-1, 6-4
No. 3: #112 Barry King (ND) def. #106 Stephen Amritraj (D) 7-6 (7-4), 6-2
No. 4: Peter Rodrigues (D) def. Sheeva Parbhu (ND) 6-2, 6-1
No. 5: Peter Shults (D) def. Irackli Akhvlediani (ND) 6-3, 6-4
No. 6: Charles Brezac (D) def. Patrick Buchanan (ND) 7-5, 4-6, 1-0 (10-6)
Order of Finish: 2, 4, 1*, 3, 5, 6
Doubles
No. 1: #15 Rodrigues/Stokke (D) def. D’Amico/Keckley (ND) 8-4
No. 2: Eric Langenkamp/Parbhu (ND) def. Amritraj/Jason Zimmerman (D) 8-5
No. 3: *Brezac/Walter (D) def. S. Bass/King (ND) 9-7
Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3*