Feb. 18, 2010
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Fighting Irish men’s tennis team will close out a five-match road swing this weekend with a 6:00 p.m. (EST) match versus the Washington Huskies. The match is scheduled to take place in the Nordstrom Tennis Center in Seattle, Wash. on Saturday, Feb. 20.
Live stats of Saturday’s match can be accessed by clicking on the “LiveStats” tab on the left side of Washington’s men’s tennis page at www.gohuskies.com; while a complete recap will be posted on und.com at the conclusion of the match.
Series Breakdown
Washington leads the brief all-time series by a 2-1 margin dating back to the first meeting between Notre Dame and Washington in 2000. The Huskies took that first meeting by a 5-2 score at the Ice Volleys Invite in Minneapolis, Minn. In 2001, the Huskies won the next meeting, 4-1, in the second round of the NCAA Championship in Cambridge, Mass. Notre Dame earned its first win of the series on March 5, 2007 when the Irish claimed a 6-1 win inside the Eck Tennis Pavilion. No members of the current Fighting Irish squad figured in the decision, but current Washington senior Derek Drabble was defeated by Barry King ’07 at No. 5 singles 6-3, 6-2.
Scouting The Huskies
Washington enters the weekend with a 7-1 record and ranked 25th in the Feb. 18 ITA rankings release. The Huskies have been off since earning a weekend sweep over Mississippi State (5-2) and East Tennessee State (4-3) on Feb. 5 and 7. Washington has also defeated Gonzaga (7-0), Arkansas (4-3), Portland (7-0), UC Irvine (6-1) and Boise State (5-1). Washington’s lone loss came against Illinois (0-7).
Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan has started all eight Washington’s matches at No. 1 singles, posting a 6-2 mark. At No. 2 singles, Kyle McMorrow has also posted a 6-2 mark while Tobi Obenaus boasts a 5-1 record at No. 5 singles. Nedunchezhiyan and McMorrow have also combined to post a 6-1 doubles record including a 3-0 record in the No. 1 position and a 3-1 mark at No. 2 doubles.
Washington is led by 16th-year head coach Matt Anger. Last season, Anger guided the Huskies to the second round of the NCAA Championship and a final ITA ranking of 26th. He holds an all-time record of 255-120 with the Huskies.
Last Weekend
The Fighting Irish men’s tennis team saw their comeback bid fall just short as the Michigan Wolverines earned a narrow 4-3 win on Saturday, Feb. 14 at the Michigan Varsity Tennis Center. Notre Dame fell behind 0-2 and 1-3 but rallied to force a 3-3 tie, only to see the Wolverines edge the Irish in the third set of the night’s final singles match.
Casey Watt (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) got the Irish on the board with a win at No. 1 singles over 50th-ranked Jason Jung 6-3, 7-6 (7-4). Daniel Stahl (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) notched a win at No. 3 singles for the Irish by defeating Mike Sroczynski 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. David Anderson (Sandwich, Mass./Sandwich) earned the other Irish point with a win at No. 6 singles, downing Chris Cha 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.
Notes
Washington will be Notre Dame’s seventh nationally-ranked opponent of the season out of eight matches … The ITA released the fifth round of team rankings for the 2010 season on Feb. 18 and the Irish moved to 36th … Dating back to March 28 of last season, Anderson is 9-1 in his last 12 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 —