Oct. 18, 2008
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Stephen Havens (Cincinnati, Ohio), Brett Helgeson (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley West), and Daniel Stahl (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) all took part in the first day of main draw singles play at the ITA Midwest Regionals. Notre Dame highlights from the event included two wins in doubles play by the team of Helgeson and Havens, as well as two singles victories by Helgeson.
Helgeson, the number four seed in the tournament, defeated Kurt Zaske of Ohio State in the first round, 6-3, 6-1. In the second round Helgeson recorded another straight-sets victory, this time over Peter Aarts of Michigan, 6-1, 7-5. Helgeson will now face Roy Kalmanovich of Illinois in round of 16 play on Sunday, as he will take part in the second match on court two. Helgeson has now at least made it to the round of 16 at the ITA Midwest Regionals in two consecutive seasons.
Also participating in main draw singles play, Havens was matched up against the tournament’s number one seed, Bryan Koniecko of Ohio State, in the first round. Havens dropped the first set, 4-6 and the second, 1-6. Stahl was also knocked out in the first round, falling 2-6, 0-6 to Austen Childs of Louisville.
In main draw doubles play, which began on Friday, Helgeson and Havens breezed to round of 16 play with consecutive 8-1 wins. First, they beat Alafriz and Kruusmagi of Wright Sate. Then the Irish tandem was able to overcome Bernabe and Monroy of Northern Illinois to set up a showdown with Michigan’s Jung and Sroczynski. The Michigan duo proved victorious, knocking out Helgeson and Havens in a close match, 8-6.
The Irish are no strangers to success at the ITA Midwest regionals under Bob Bayliss. Since 1990, Notre Dame has had four singles champions, most recently Stephen Bass in 2005. Andy Zurcher (1993), Will Forsyth (1992) and David DiLucia (1990) also won the event for the Irish. In addition, Notre Dame has had five runners-up at the event and four No. 1 seeds. In doubles action, four Notre Dame duos have won the Regionals, including the tandem of Sheeva Parbhu and Ryan Keckley in 2006.