Oct. 21, 2010
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame men’s tennis squad earned eight victories in the qualifying round Thurs., Oct. 21 at the Eck Tennis Pavilion in Notre Dame, Ind. and the Lakeland Athletic Club in Niles, Mich.
Junior Niall Fitzgerald (Wicklow, Ireland/Blackrock College) posted an impressive win when he downed DePaul’s Mathias Hamback 6-2, 6-1 in his second match of the qualifying round.
“He was aggressive off the ground,” says head coach Bobby Bayliss. “He looked for opportunities to get to the net, and played the type of tennis we’ve always known he was capable of.”
Freshmen Matt Dooley (New Braunfels, Texas/New Braufels) and Ryan Bandy (Cincinnati,Ohio/St. Xavier) racked up wins in the first round of play. Dooley defeated MSU’s Jason Norville in a two-set match in the first round before falling to Jose Munoz of Marquette in the second round. Bandy defeated Austin Brooks 6-2, 6-2 of Michigan State, prior to being downed by Western Michigan’s Casey Cullen.
Seniors Matt Johnson (Portage, Mich./Portage Central) and Sean Tan (Lakewood, Calif./Lakewood) claimed second round victories on Thursday. Tan posted two impressive wins – first in a two-set match ending in a close win of 7-6 over Gautham Oraskar of University of Illinois at Chicago. Next he downed Craig Cox of Green Bay 6-3, 6-4. Johnson dropped a satisfying win over Marquette’s Logon Collins 6-4, 6-4 to propel him into the quarterfinals.
The qualifying draw begins at 8 a.m. and main draw follows at 11:15 at Lakeland and 12:00 p.m. at the Eck Tennis Pavilion. Doubles competition will begin at the Eck at 6:00 p.m.
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