Senior Casey Watt.

Irish Travel To Columbus For ITA Kick-Off Weekend

Jan. 27, 2012

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The No. 28 Notre Dame men’s team heads to Columbus, Ohio, and Ohio State this weekend for the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Kick-Off Weekend. The Irish meet No. 29 Indiana on Saturday at 2 p.m., and then will compete against either No. 3 Ohio State or No. 44 Cornell on Sunday.

The four-team tourney is one of 15 being played around the country, with each venue’s winner advancing to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Charlottesville, Va., from Feb. 17-20. The host institutions were selected based on the year-end 2011 ITA team rankings. The No. 1 seed Buckeyes were awarded a host site and will open with No. 4 seed Cornell, while the No. 2 seed Hoosiers meet the No. 3 seed Irish.

The ITA National Team Indoor Championships are the ITA’s longest running national championship, with the first championship being contested in 1973.

Notre Dame is off to a 3-1 start, with the lone loss coming at No. 17 Illinois, 4-3. Sophomore Greg Andrews has opened the year in impressive fashion, going 4-0 in singles and 3-1 in doubles. One of his victories was over the Illini’s Roy Kalmanovich, who was ranked No. 24 at the time. Andrews swept Kalmanovich in straight-sets, 6-2, 6-3, to earn BIG EAST Men’s Tennis Athlete of the Week.

Ohio State (3-0) opened the year with a pair of 7-0 sweeps over Xavier and Butler, before knocking off No. 15 Mississippi State, 6-1. Cornell (2-0) knocked off Buffalo and Boston College, 7-0, to open the year. The Hoosiers meanwhile are 2-1 after knocking off Western Michigan and Toledo, 7-0, and falling to No. 7 Kentucky, 7-0.

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