Nov. 4, 2006

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Notre Dame senior Stephen Bass moved into the semifinals of the 2006 ITA National Indoor Championships at the Racquet Club of Columbus on Friday. Bass’ day was highlighted with his thrilling upset of second-ranked John Isner of Georgia.

No. 21 Bass (Bronxville, N.Y./Iona Prep School) eliminated Isner in straight sets, 6-4, 7-6 (6). Bass then rallied past Luke Shields of Boise State in a thriller. Bass dropped the opening set to Shields, 6-1, but then held off elimination with a 7-6 (3) victory in the second set tiebreaker and followed up with another 7-6 (5) tiebreaker victory. Bass will face Steven Moneke of Ohio State on Saturday for a berth into the title match.

No. 20 junior Sheeva Parbhu (Omaha, Neb./Millard North) defeated Jakub Cech of Fresno State, 7-5, 7-6 (0), in the first round of the consolation draw. Parbhu will play second-seeded Luis Flores of Georgia on Saturday.

The Irish doubles team of Parbhu and senior Ryan Keckley (South Bend, Ind./St. Joseph’s) moved into the consolation final with a victory over Andrei Kumantsov and Mikael Pavlou of Texas A&M-Corpus Christie, 8-6.

The ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships were inaugurated in 1978 for the men and 1984 for the women and recent champions and finalists include current and recent top 100 professionals Benjamin Becker (Baylor), James Blake (Harvard), Bob and Mike Bryan (Stanford), Laura Granville (Stanford), Marissa Irvin (Stanford), Kevin Kim (UCLA), Jeff Morrison (Florida) and Lisa Raymond (Florida). Big Ten legends and Grand Slam finalists Todd Martin (Northwestern) and MaliVai Washington (Michigan) are also among the past champions.

Results for the rest of the weekend’s action will be posted at www.und.com.

— ND —