Oct. 12, 2011
Qualifier DrawSingles Draw
Doubles Draw
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s tennis team travels to Columbus, Ohio this weekend for the 2011 USTA/ITA Midwest Regional Championships where it will battle a host of formidable opponents.
Hosted by Ohio State University, the USTA/ITA Midwest Regional Championships features 21 teams, including the Irish, and six squads that ended the 2010-11 season ranked in the top 75. Action will take place at two locations on the Buckeyes’ campus, the Varsity Tennis Center and the Jesse Owens West Tennis Center and will run from Oct. 13-17.
Twelve Notre Dame student-athletes will compete this week for the Irish. Seniors Casey Watt, Samuel Keeton and Niall Fitzgerald, juniors Blas Moros and Michael Moore, sophomores Billy Pecor, Ryan Bandy and Greg Andrews and freshman Wyatt McCoy are all automatically qualified for the main draw of the 64-individual tournament that begins on Friday.
Junior Spencer Talmadge and freshmen Douglas Barnard and Michael Fredericka begin their week on Thursday as they participate in the qualifying rounds for the main draw. The top eight individuals out of 64 in the qualifying rounds will earn a spot in the main draw.
There will also be a 64-team doubles championship tournament.
The finals for both tournaments are scheduled for Monday.
The winners of the singles and doubles tournaments will earn a spot in the highly prestigious USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, which will be held November 3-6. The national indoors feature the top 32 singles players and the top 20 doubles teams in the country.
“This weekend will offer up some more top-quality competition for our team,” said head coach Bobby Bayliss. “We are excited for the opportunity to continue to improve on the things we have worked on all of fall practice.”
Fans interested in following the action from their computers have the option to view live stats for the main draw and also tweets from @OhioState_MTEN.
For complete results from the USTA/ITA Midwest Regional Championships check out UND.com at the conclusion of each day.
Teams Competing (21)
Cleveland State; DePaul; Detroit Mercy; Eastern Illinois; Illinois State; Illinois Chicago; Illinois; IUPUI; Marquette; Michigan State; Michigan; Northern Illinois; Northwestern; Notre Dame; Ohio State; Toledo; Valparaiso; Western Michigan; Wisconsin-Green Bay; Wisconsin; Youngstown State.
Student-Athletes Competing (12)
Casey Watt; Greg Andrews; Samuel Keeton; Billy Pecor; Blas Moros; Wyatt McCoy; Niall Fitzgerald; Michael Moore; Ryan Bandy; Spencer Talmadge; Douglas Barnard; Michael Fredericka.
–ND–