Oct. 17, 2012
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s tennis team heads to East Lansing, Mich., this weekend for the 2012 United State Tennis Association/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Midwest Region Championships that are scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 18 until Monday, Oct. 22 at Michigan State’s MSU Indoor Tennis Facility and the MSU Outdoor Tennis Courts.
Eleven Irish student-athletes will make the trip with three playing in the qualifier bracket for an opportunity to participate in the 64-player singles bracket. Earning the No. 1 seed in the qualifier bracket is Irish junior Ryan Bandy. Teammate Spencer Talmadge earned the No. 8 seed, while senior Michael Moore received a No. 9-16 seed.
Action begins at 8 a.m. on Thursday as Bandy plays Dawoud Kabi from Youngstown State, Talmadge opens with Detroit’s Alex Latosinsky and Moore meets Marquette’s Javier Varela.
Second round action in the qualifier bracket will be at 2 p.m. on Thursday with the finals set for 8 a.m. on Friday. Eight players from the qualifier bracket advance to the main singles bracket.
Already in the singles bracket are freshmen Quentin Monaghan and Alex Lawson, sophomore Wyatt McCoy, juniors Greg Andrews and Billy Pecor and senior Blas Moros.
Andrews, the No. 24 ranked player in the country, earned the No. 3 seed in the field behind No. 4 Evan King of Michigan and No. 35 Peter Kobelt of Ohio State, who claimed the top two seeds. Andrews opens the tournament against Wisconsin’s Alex Robles.
Joining Andrews on the left side of the bracket are McCoy and Monaghan. McCoy opens at the top of the bracket against No. 4 King, while Monaghan plays against Drew Lied of Michigan State.
Moros, the No. 7 seed, opens against Wisconsin Green Bay’s Michael Tenzer on the right side of the bracket and is joined by Lawson and Pecor. Lawson begins his tourney against Illinois State’s Alex Pelaez, while Pecor opens against Ross Guigmon from Illinois.
In doubles Talmadge and Andrews begin on the left side of the bracket against Valparaiso’s Waak and Honert. Joining the duo on the left are Nicolas Montoya and Kenneth Sabacinski. The pair will match up with Michigan State’s Roehmer and Richmond.
On the right side of the bracket three Notre Dame duos are set for action. Pecor and Lawson team up and will meet Kabli and Hagn from Youngstown State, Moore and McCoy battle Diaz and Christ from Ohio State and Bandy and Monaghan meet up with Western Michigan’s Beckwith and Payne.
Doubles gets underway at 11 a.m. on Friday. Second and third round action are on Saturday, with quarterfinals and semifinals action scheduled for Sunday. The doubles championship is slated for Monday.
Last year the Irish turned in a strong showing as two individuals reached the round of eight and two doubles teams reached the round of eight.
To follow along with the Irish at the USTA/ITA Regional Championships stay tuned to UND.com, Facebook.com/NDMensTennis and Twitter (@NDMensTennis).
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