Feb. 11, 2010
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Fighting Irish men’s tennis team continues on the road this weekend with a trip to Ann Arbor, Mich. to face the Michigan Wolverines on Saturday, Feb. 13. The match will take place at 6:00 p.m. inside Michigan’s Varsity Tennis Center.
Live stats of Saturday’s match can be accessed by clicking on the Live Results tab on Michigan’s men’s tennis schedule page at www.mgoblue.com; while a complete recap will be posted on und.com at the conclusion of the match.
Series Breakdown
Michigan leads the all-time series by a 43-28 margin dating back to 1923 when the teams first met. Since the arrival of Bobby Bayliss, the Irish have been able to swing the series into their advantage as they have posted a 17-6 mark under the 23rd-year head coach. In the teams’ last ten meetings dating back to the 2002 season the Irish hold a 7-3 advantage.
The teams split a pair of matches last season. The Irish won the first meeting of 2009 at home on March 4 by a 5-2 margin. After dropping the doubles point, Notre Dame rallied to win five of six singles matches en route to the victory. Included in the Irish singles wins were David Anderson’s (Sandwich, Mass./Sandwich) win at No. 5 singles over Mike Sroczynski, 6-4, 6-2. Stephen Havens (Cincinnati, Ohio/Hill Christian School) earned a win at No. 2 singles, while Casey Watt (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) clinched the win with a three-set win at No. 4 singles. But the Wolverines answered with a 4-1 win in the first round of the 2009 NCAA tournament at the Columbus, Ohio regional on May 8. Michigan won three singles matches and took the doubles point.
Scouting The Wolverines
Michigan enters the weekend with a 2-3 record and ranked 36th in the Feb. 4 ITA rankings release (next set of rankings due out Feb. 12). Last weekend Michigan played their first home match of the season and dropped a 5-2 decision to No. 13 Pepperdine on Feb. 7.
The Wolverines have earned wins over Vanderbilt (4-3) and Minnesota (4-2) this dual season, while their other two losses have come against North Carolina State (3-4) and Kentucky (2-4).
The 2010 Michigan lineup includes two ranked singles players in junior Jason Jung (50) and freshman Evan King (73).
Michigan is led by sixth year head coach Bruce Berque. He has taken the Wolverines to four straight NCAA Championships, including an appearance in the final 16 in 2008. Berque owns a career dual-meet record of 84-54 with the Wolverines.
Last Weekend
The Irish dropped a 7-0 decision at 21st-ranked Duke on Sunday, Feb. 7. Notre Dame dropped a tough doubles decision that reached the 12th tiebreaker point of the third doubles match and could not get back on track after that.
Notes
Michigan will be Notre Dame’s sixth nationally-ranked opponent out of seven matches … The ITA released the third round of team rankings for the 2010 season on Feb. 4 and the Irish moved to 34th (next set of rankings due out Feb. 12) … dating back to March 28 of last season, David Anderson is 8-1 in his last 10 dual season singles starts (two matches unfinished) … Notre Dame’s class of 2014 has been ranked fifth-best in the country according to a recent tennisrecruiting.net poll, which was released on Jan. 25 … The most recent ranking mark Notre Dame’s third consecutive top-six signing class according to the website making Notre Dame the only program in the nation that can currently boast a top-six recruiting ranking for three consecutive years (2008, 2009 & 2010).
— ND —