Sept. 29, 2001
Notre Dame, Ind. – Eleven players registered multiple victories for the University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team on the third day of the Tom Fallon Invitational Saturday at the Courtney Tennis Center. The Irish combined to win 22 matches on day three. Play concludes tomorrow in the Tom Fallon Invitational as Notre Dame takes on Michigan in singles at 9:00 a.m. and in doubles at 1:00 p.m.
Notre Dame was led by seniors as five of them combined for a 12-2 record on Saturday. Ashok Raju (Morgantown, W. Va.) and captain Casey Smith (Leawood, Kan.) both won two singles matches, as well as a doubles contest. Raju downed Harvard’s Brent Saiontz 3-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-8) and Michigan’s Vineeth Gossain 6-4 before teaming with sophomore Paul McNaughton (Hinsdale, Ill.) to beat Seth McKinley and Mishawaka, Ind. native Troy Havens of Purdue 8-5. Smith, ranked 38th in the country in singles, beat Harvard’s Cliff Nguyen 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-6) and Granger, Ind. native Chris Varga of Ball State 7-6, 6-3. Smith and classmate Javier Taborga (La Paz, Bolivia), the 34th-ranked doubles team in the nation, beat Purdue’s team of Laith Al-Agba and Carl McCafferty 8-2. Taborga, who holds the no. 76 ranking nationally in singles, beat Ball State’s Jason Pressel 6-2, 6-3. Another senior, Jimmy Rogers (South Bend, Ind.), beat Andy Rector of Ball State 6-1, 6-0 in singles and then combined with junior Jake Cram (Littleton, Colo.) to beat Gossain and Jeremy Edelson of Michigan 8-5 in doubles. Andrew Laflin (Tampa, Fla.), also a senior, was victorious in singles over Harvard’s George Turner 7-5, 4-6, 1-0 (11-9) and Ball State’s Brad Rhodes 6-3, 6-3.
Cram and McNaughton added to their doubles wins with triumphs in singles, while four other players also won multiple matches. Sophomore Luis Haddock-Morales (Caguas, Puerto Rico) won a pair of singles matches to bring his career record in singles at the Tom Fallon Invitational to 9-0. Junior Brian Farrell (Lilburn, Ga.) and sophomore Matthew Scott (Paris, France) also swept a pair of singles matches and freshman James Bass (Bronxville, N.Y.) won a singles and a doubles match for the Irish.
The Tom Fallon Invitational, known as the Irish Invitational until the name was changed in 1988, honors Notre Dame coaching legend Tom Fallon, who coached the Irish for 31 years from 1957-87. Fallon, a member of the ITA Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame, amassed a career record of 511-200 and helped Notre Dame to a share of the 1959 national title.
The tournament was changed from a “flight” format to a “hidden dual” format in 2000. Teams play simulated matches against each other, but there are no team scores recorded. Each scheduled “match” will consist of either eight singles matches or four doubles matches. Singles matches consist of two sets and a supertiebreaker (first to 10 points) instead of a third set. Doubles matches are one eight-game pro set. Collegiate Game Scoring (CGS) is utilized — as it will be for all ITA-sanctioned events this fall. It is basically a “one-ad” format, a game point ensues on the second deuce of a game. All individual results are counted for ranking purposes.
LOCAL PLAYERS SUCCESSFUL AT TOM FALLON INVITATIONAL
Three players from the South Bend area have had success at this weekend’s Tom Fallon Invitational.
Troy Havens, a sophomore at Purdue, is a native of Mishawaka, Ind. and graduated from Penn High School after playing No. 1 singles there for four seasons. He was an all-state selection as a junior and senior and the state runner-up in singles as a senior. Havens posted a career prep record of 92-7. In the Tom Fallon Invitational, Havens has won four matches. He beat Rice’s Prakash Venkataraman 3-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-4) on Friday, as well as William & Mary’s Matt Davis 6-3, 6-4 and Indiana State’s Dalibor Mihajlovic 6-3, 7-6 on Saturday. Havens also teamed with Andrew Wakefield to beat Wisconsin’s Jason Gonzaga and Alexander Kasarov 8-6 in doubles on Friday.
Junior Chris Varga of Ball State was born in South Bend and resides in Granger, Ind. He graduated from St. Joseph’s High School after tallying a 103-3 singles mark during his career, including a 36-1 record as a senior. At St. Joseph’s, Varga put together a streak of 76 straight victories and earned first-team all-state accolades as a junior and senior. At the Tom Fallon Invitational, Varga won his first two matches, defeating Michigan’s Anthony Jackson 6-3, 6-2 and Wisconsin’s Scott Rutherford 6-2, 6-7, 1-0 (10-8) on Friday.
South Bend native and current Irish senior Jimmy Rogers has also been successful this weekend. He teamed with Jake Cram to win doubles matches against Ball State’s Travis Crawford and Matt Laramore 8-4 and Michigan’s Jeremy Edelson and Vineeth Gossain 8-5. In singles, Rogers beat Ball State’s Andy Rector 6-1, 6-0 on Saturday. Rogers graduated from St. Joseph’s High School, where he compiled an 88-6 record and was a three-time all-state selection. As a senior, Rogers was 26-0.
Singles
William Lee (H) d. #76 Javier Taborga (ND) 6-4, 2-6, 1-0 (10-7)
#38 Casey Smith (ND) d. Cliff Nguyen (H) 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-6)
Jonathan Chu (H) d. Aaron Talarico (ND) 7-6, 6-4
#100 Luis Haddock-Morales (ND) d. Oli Choo (H) 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (10-8)
Matthew Scott (ND) d. Mark Riddell (H) 6-2, 4-6, 1-0 (12-10)
Andrew Laflin (ND) d. George Turner (H) 7-5, 4-6, 1-0 (11-9)
Brian Wan (H) d. James Malhame (ND) 4-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10-5)
Chris Chiou (H) d. Bryan Acken (ND) 6-2, 6-2
Ashok Raju (ND) d. Brent Saiontz (H) 3-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-8)
Brian Farrell (ND) d. David O’Connell (IS) 6-2, 6-1
Lovre Brajkovic (IS) d. Brent D’Amico (ND) 6-2, 6-3
Paul McNaughton (ND) d. Dalibor Mihajlovic (IS) 6-2, 4-6, 1-0 (10-6)
Jimmy Borendame (B) d. Ben Hatten (ND) 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (10-8)
#76 Taborga (ND) d. Jason Pressel (BS) 6-2, 6-3
#38 Smith (ND) d. Chris Varga (BS) 7-6, 6-3
Andrew Seni (BS) d. Talarico (ND) 6-3, 7-5
#100 Haddock-Morales (ND) d. Michael Heule (BS) 6-1, 6-1
Scott (ND) d. Matt Laramore (BS) 6-4, 6-4
Laflin (ND) d. Brad Rhodes (BS) 6-3, 6-3
Tim Giattina (ND) d. Travis Crawford (BS) 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (10-5)
James Bass (ND) d. Klint Knable (BS) 6-2, 6-3
Jimmy Rogers (ND) d. Andy Rector (BS) 6-1, 6-0
Kevin Burnett (BS) d. Chancey Martin (ND) 7-5, 6-3
Raju (ND) d. Vineeth Gossain (M) 6-4
Jake Cram (ND) d. Mike Jonckheerre (MS) 6-0, 4-6, 1-0 (10-5)
Andrew Formanczyck (MS) d. Peter Graham (ND) 6-2, 7-5
Sounak Chatterjee (P) d. T Moss (ND) 6-0, 6-0
Brian Farrell (ND) d. Chiou (H) 6-3, 6-2
Saiontz (H) d. D’Amico (ND) 6-2, 7-6 (9-7)
Doubles
#34 Smith/Taborga (ND) d. Laith Al-Agba/Carl McCafferty (P) 8-2
Derek Miller/Andrew Wakefield (P) d. #30 Haddock-Morales/Talarico (ND) 9-8 (7-3)
McNaughton/Raju (ND) d. Troy Havens/Seth McKinley (P) 8-5
Chatterjee/Dan Swan (P) d. Laflin/Scott (ND) 9-7
Saiontz/Turner (H) d. D’Amico (ND)/David O’Connell (IS) 8-6
Crawford/Laramore (BS) d. Graham/Moss (ND) 9-8 (7-4)
Bass/Martin (ND) d. Heule/Rector (BS) 8-2
Brett Baudinet/Greg Novak (M) d. Acken/Hatten (ND) 8-4
Cram/Rogers (ND) d. Jeremy Edelson/Vineeth Gossain (M) 8-5