Sept. 22, 2002
Final Results from 2002 Tom Fallon Invitational in PDF Format
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NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team felt the bite of playing for a fourth consecutive day, dropping seven of eight singles matches to Purdue University on the final day of the 16th annual Tom Fallon Invitational Sunday afternoon at the Courtney Tennis Center and Eck Tennis Pavilion. The Irish had several chances to claim victory, but lost two matches in third-set tiebreakers, while another was decided in straight sets on tiebreakers. Notre Dame will continue its fall tournament schedule next Thursday through Sunday, Sept. 26-29, when it takes part in the Harvard Invitational in Cambridge, Mass. A complete schedule for that tournament will be announced later in the week.
Junior tri-captain Luis Haddock (Caguas, P.R./Notre Dame HS) continued his stellar play this fall, carding a 6-3, 6-3 win over Purdue’s Andrew Wakefield. Haddock did not drop a set in winning all four of his singles matches at this year’s Tom Fallon Invitational — he also split two doubles matches. For his career, Haddock is 14-0 in singles and 22-2 overall (singles and doubles combined) in three years of competition at the Tom Fallon Invitational. This weekend’s 5-1 combined mark boosts Haddock’s record this season to 7-1 in singles and 12-2 overall. That continues his impressive success rate in the fall, where he now is 28-5 in singles and 46-12 overall during his college career.
Two players with local ties have played well at the Tom Fallon Invitational as well. Purdue’s Troy Havens, a South Bend native and Penn High School graduate, went 5-1 overall (2-1 in singles play) this weekend. On Sunday, he picked up his second three-set win of the tournament, a 3-6, 6-3 1-0 (10-7) victory over Notre Dame freshman Patrick Buchanan (Fullerton, Calif./Servite).
Meanwhile, Granger native and St. Joseph’s High School graduate Chris Varga of Ball State registered three wins at the Tom Fallon Invitational, including a pair of victories on the singles circuit. He closed out his homecoming in fine fashion Sunday afternoon, rolling to a 6-3, 6-2 win over Haris Causevic of Maryland.
The 2002 Tom Fallon Invitational featured 11 teams competing in a “hidden dual” format, where teams simulate dual matches, but no team scores are recorded. Of this year’s field, seven teams finished in the national top 50 a year ago and eight of the 11 squads earned invitations to the 2002 NCAA Championship.
The event, which was 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 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame, amassed a career record of 511-200 (.719) and helped Notre Dame to a share of the 1959 national championship.
2002 Tom Fallon Invitational — Day 4 (Singles – Notre Dame results only)
#72 Scott Mayer (P) d. Brent D’Amico (ND) 7-5, 6-3
Luis Haddock (ND) d. Andrew Wakefield (P) 6-3, 6-3
Troy Havens (P) d. Patrick Buchanan (ND) 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-7)
David Robinson (P) d. Nicolas Lopez-Acevedo (ND) 6-4, 7-5
Paul Rose (P) d. Eric Langenkamp (ND) 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (8-6)
Seth McKinley (P) d. Paul McNaughton (ND) 6-2, 6-2
Colin Foster (P) d. Peter Graham (ND) 7-5, 6-3
Sounak Chatterjee (P) d. Ben Hatten (ND) 3-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-8)
— ND —