Jan. 26, 2010
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s tennis 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 marks Notre Dame’s third consecutive top-six signing class according to the website, which is considered the nation’s most comprehensive source for information about tennis recruiting. Impressively, Notre Dame is the only program that can currently boast a top-six recruiting ranking for three consecutive years (2008, 2009 & 2010).
The Irish class of 2014 includes Greg Andrews of Richland, Mich., Ryan Bandy of Cincinnati, Ohio, Matt Dooley of New Braunfels, Texas and Billy Pecor of Scottsdale, Ariz. The quartet each signed National Letters of Intent in the fall of 2009 to attend the University of Notre Dame and continue their tennis careers under the guidance of head coach Bobby Bayliss and associate head coach Ryan Sachire.
The poll conducted by tennisrecruiting.net included votes by national tournament directors, members of the media, and other junior tennis experts. Each voter submitted his/her take on the Top-25 recruiting classes with schools receiving 25 points for each first-place vote, 24 points for each second-place vote, on down to 1 point for each 25th-place vote. All told, the Irish finished with 379 points.
The current Irish sophomore class of Niall Fitzgerald (Wicklow, Ireland/Blackrock College), Casey Watt (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) and Sam Keeton (Kansas City, Mo./The Pembroke Hill School) was also ranked fifth. This season’s freshman class of Michael Moore (Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South), Blas Moros (Boca Raton, Fla./Pine Crest) and Spencer Talmadge (Hillsborough, Calif./Junipero Serra) was ranked sixth.
The Irish return to action this weekend with a road trip to Columbus, Ohio to take part in the 2010 ITA Kickoff Weekend. Notre Dame will participate in the Ohio State regional. Action begins on Saturday, Jan. 30 when the Irish face Tulsa at 1:00 p.m. Then, on Sunday, Jan. 31, Notre Dame will play either Ohio State or New Mexico. The winner of the regional will advance to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships at the Boar’s Head Sports Club, hosted by the Univ. of Virginia on Feb. 12-15.
Top-10 Rankings (1st-place votes in parentheses)
Rank School Points1 Duke (15) 4452 UCLA (1) 4213 Michigan 4064 Georgia (2) 4045 Notre Dame 3796 Princeton 3207 Miami (FL) 2728 USC 2549 Army 23710 Vanderbilt 227
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