Junior Brett Helgeson enters Sunday's competition ranked 11th nationally in singles action.

Irish Perform Well On Opening Day Of Olympia Fields Country Club Fighting Illini Invitational

Sept. 15, 2007

CHICAGO – The University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team opened the 2007 Fall portion of its season on Friday at the Olympia Fields Country Club Fighting Illini Invitational. The Irish were victorious in six of their eight singles matches against Miami (Fla.).

David Anderson (Sandwich, MA), Tyler Davis (Nashville, TN), Daniel Stahl (Bethesda, MD), Stephen Havens (Cincinnati, OH) and Matt Johnson (Portage, MI) each made their Irish debut and all five walked away victorious.

Anderson was the lone rookie that was forced into a third set, but he upended Vivek Subramanian, 6-4, 2-6, 6-0. Davis cruised past JC Whitner, 6-4, 6-4. Stahl had little trouble with Barnabas Carrega, 6-1, 6-2. Havens was equally impressive with his 6-2, 6-2 straight set triumph over Hector Nieto. Johnson made it a perfect sweep for the freshmen following his 6-3, 6-1 win over Westin Wendt.

Junior #66 Brett Helgeson (Overland Park, KS) upended David Rosenfeld in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1, but senior #32 Sheeva Parbhu (Omaha, NE) lost in straight sets to #19 Daniel Vallverdu, 6-3, 6-1. Senior Andrew Roth (Houston, TX) was tied, 5-5, in the opening set against Carl Sunberg before he was forced to retire with an ankle injury.

Notre Dame also managed to pick up six victories in its 10 doubles matches. The 32nd-ranked duo of Parbhu and Roth split two matches. The Irish tandem lost their first match of the afternoon, 8-5, against Vallverdu and Rosenfeld, but responded with an 8-6 victory over Subramanian and Sunberg.

The freshman duo of Stahl and Johnson went 2-0. They defeated Whitner and Wendt, 8-4, before cruising past Carrega and Nieto, 8-3. Davis and Havens, another freshman team, split two matches. After losing, 8-6, to Carrega and Nieto, they knocked off Whitner and Wendt, 8-5.

Each of the remaining two Notre Dame doubles’ teams split its two matches. Helgeson and junior Santiago Montoya (Austin, TX) beat Subramanian and Sunberg, 8-1, but the got knocked off, 8-4, by Vallverdu and Rosenfeld. Sophomore Sean Corrigan (Lido Beach, NY) and Anderson lost 8-2 to Houssam Yassine and Andrew Felsenthal of Alabama, 8-2, before taking down Saketh Myneni and Sammy Struyf, 8-5.

Day two action begins at 9:00 a.m. Notre Dame will play eight singles matches against the Crimson Tide and play 10 more doubles matches against Alabama.

Singles#19 Daniel Vallverdu (Miami) def. #32 Sheeva Parbhu (Notre Dame) 6-3, 6-1#66 Brett Helgeson (Notre Dame) def. David Rosenfeld (Miami) 6-2, 6-1Carl Sunberg (Miami) def. Andrew Roth (Notre Dame) 5-5, retiredDavid Anderson (Notre Dame) def. Vivek Subramanian (Miami) 6-4, 2-6, 6-0Tyler Davis (Notre Dame) def. JC Whitner (Miami) 6-4, 6-4Dan Stahl (Notre Dame) def. Barnabas Carrega (Miami) 6-1, 6-2Stephen Havens (Notre Dame) def. Hector Nieto (Miami) 6-2, 6-2Matt Johnson (Notre Dame) def. Westin Wendt (Miami) 6-3, 6-1
DoublesDaniel Vallverdu/David Rosenfeld (Miami) def. #32 Andrew Roth/Sheeva Parbhu (Notre Dame) 8-5Barnabas Carrega/Hector Nieto (Miami) def. Tyler Davis/Stephen Havens (Notre Dame) 8-6Brett Helgeson/Santiago Montoya (Notre Dame) def. Vivek Subramanian/Carl Sunberg (Miami) 8-1Dan Stahl/Matt Johnson (Notre Dame) def. JC Whitner/Westin Wendt (Miami) 8-4Houssam Yassine/Andrew Felsenthal (Alabama) def. Sean Corrigan/David Anderson (Notre Dame) 8-2Daniel Vallverdu/David Rosenfeld (Miami) def. Brett Helgeson/Santiago Montoya (Notre Dame) 8-4#32 Andrew Roth/Sheeva Parbhu (Notre Dame) def. Vivek Subramanian/Carl Sunberg (Miami) 8-6Dan Stahl/Matt Johnson (Notre Dame) def. Barnabas Carrega/Hector Nieto (Miami) 8-3Tyler Davis/Stephen Havens (Notre Dame) def. JC Whitner/Westin Wendt (Miami) 8-5Sean Corrigan/David Anderson (Notre Dame) def. Saketh Myneni/Sammy Struyf (Alabama) 8-5

— ND —