Jan. 8, 2009
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) announced that senior Brett Helgeson (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley West) will begin the dual-match season as the 20th-ranked player in the country. In addition, Helgeson and his Irish teammates will begin the spring season as the 30th-ranked team in the country.
Helgeson’s ranking of 20th moves him up five places from the 25th ranking he held in the fall season. He is also the highest ranked BIG EAST student-athlete. Similarly, the team’s ranking of 30th is the highest among BIG EAST schools.
Sophomores Daniel Stahl (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) and Tyler Davis (Nashville, Tenn./Father Ryan) are appearing in the rankings for the first time in their careers. Stahl, who went 11-2 in the fall season, is ranked 112th nationally and 28th in the Midwest region.
Davis combines with Helgeson to rank 37th nationally in doubles and 13th in the Midwest region. In the fall season, Davis posted a 9-2 mark in singles play and a 2-1 mark in doubles play when teaming with Helgeson.
Helgeson is coming off a fall season in which he posted a 6-3 mark while playing in marquee events such as the D’Novo ITA All-American Championships and the Wilson ITA Midwest Regionals. In his first career appearance in the All-American Championships, Helgeson advanced to the round-of-16 with wins over Richard Wire of Stanford (5-7, 7-5, 6-1) and Nate Schnugg, who is now ranked 18th, of Georgia (4-6, 7-5, 6-4).
Last season, Helgeson ascended to as high as No. 11 in the ITA rankings before closing out the season at No. 45. He was named to the BIG EAST All-Tournament team in both singles and doubles play for the second consecutive year and he was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Performer.
Ohio State University has earned the first overall ranking, with Texas, Georgia, UCLA and Virginia rounding out the top five. Ohio State’s Bryan Koniecko is the top-ranked singles player.
Notre Dame opens the Dual season when they play host to No. 14 Pepperdine at the Eck Tennis Pavilion on Friday, January 16. The match is slated to begin at 3:30 p.m.
— ND —