Sept. 26, 2001
The Notre Dame men’s tennis team opens its 79th varsity season on Thursday when it plays host to the Tom Fallon Invitational at the Courtney Tennis Center. The tournament will run from Thursday through Sunday at Notre Dame and will consist of “hidden dual” matches with no team scoring.
The Irish were scheduled to open the fall season Sept. 14-16 at the Rice Invitational, but the tournament was cancelled because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
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 the Irish to a share of the 1959 national title.
The 10-team field includes six schools from the Midwest Region and eight teams that also competed in last year’s tournament. Seven of the other nine teams in the field are also on Notre Dame’s spring dual-match schedule. Five teams in the field reached the NCAA tournament a season ago and eight were ranked in the final ITA rankings.
Notre Dame opens play on Thursday, taking on William & Mary at 3:30 p.m. in the only match on the first day of the tournament. On Friday, the Irish will take on Purdue (singles only) at 11:00 a.m., Indiana State (singles only) at 3:00 p.m. and Harvard (doubles only) at 5:00 p.m. The Saturday slate has Notre Dame facing Harvard (singles only) at 9:00 a.m., Ball State (singles only) at 1:00 p.m. and Purdue (doubles only) at 5:00 p.m. The Irish will play Michigan (singles only) at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday. All matches will take place in the Courtney Tennis Center. In case of inclement weather, matches will be played in the Eck Tennis Pavilion, but the schedule will be radically altered.
Notre Dame returns eight letterwinners from last season’s team, including the top five singles players. In 2000-01, the Irish finished 17-7 and were ranked as high as 10th in the nation before finishing the year ranked 16th. The Irish captured the Blue-Gray National Tennis Classic title for the first time since 1993, the same year the Irish were last ranked in the national top 10. Notre Dame made its 11th consecutive appearance in the NCAA championships, advancing to the second round before losing to Washington 4-1.
Head coach Bob Bayliss is in his 15th year at Notre Dame with a 261-121 (.683) record and his 33rd year as a collegiate coach with a 543-215 mark. His .716 winning percentage is fourth among active coaches and seventh on the all-time NCAA list. Bayliss was named ITA National Coach of the Year in 1992 after leading the Irish to the national title match.
After sharing team MVP honors last year, senior Casey Smith (18-16 singles, 20-11 doubles) will serve as team captain for the 2001-02 Irish. He enters the season ranked 38th nationally in the preseason ITA singles rankings and is 34th in doubles with fellow senior Javier Taborga (23-12 singles, 21-12 doubles).
Taborga, ranked 76th in singles, and Smith will anchor the top of the Irish lineup again this season, along with sophomore Luis Haddock-Morales (23-10 singles, 21-11 doubles) and senior Aaron Talarico (20-9 singles, 17-12 doubles).
Talarico and Taborga advanced to the NCAA doubles championships for the second consecutive season and finished the year ranked 20th in the nation. Talarico and Haddock-Morales are ranked 30th in the preseason ITA rankings, while Haddock-Morales is 100th in singles.
Also returning to the Notre Dame singles lineup will be junior Brian Farrell (24-7 singles, 8-8 doubles) and sophomore Matthew Scott (17-5 singles, 6-2 doubles), who provided consistent victories for the Irish a season ago. Farrell led the team in wins, while Scott posted an 11-2 record in dual matches.
Two other seniors, Andrew Laflin (12-2 singles, 3-2 doubles) and James Malhame (7-3 singles, 11-7 doubles) return to the Irish lineup this season and will make an impact.
Rounding out the seven-member senior class are Ashok Raju (1-1 singles, 5-2 doubles), Adrian Hidaka (0-2 singles) and Jimmy Rogers (0-1 singles).
The Irish lost three monogram winners to graduation. Matt Daly (46-27 career singles, 26-29 career doubles) was an important part of the Irish lineup a season ago and has moved on to the professional satellite tour in southern California. Mark Overdevest (13-12 career singles, 0-6 career doubles) and 2000-01 captain Ricky Buhrman (1-5 career singles, 0-1 career doubles) also departed Notre Dame.
A five-member freshman class hopes to help Irish fortunes this season as well. Brent D’Amico figures to challenge for playing time in singles, while Paul McNaughton could help the doubles lineup. Philip Lem, Peter Graham and James Bass also join the Irish after distinguished careers in high school and juniors play.
TOM FALLON TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
Thurs., Sept. 27
3:30 p.m. — singles & doubles
Notre Dame vs. William & Mary
Fri., Sept. 28
9:00 a.m. — singles only
Harvard vs. Wisconsin
Indiana State vs. Michigan State
Ball State vs. Michigan
11:00 a.m. — singles only
Notre Dame vs. Purdue
William & Mary vs. Rice
1:00 p.m. — singles only
Michigan vs. Harvard
Ball State vs. Wisconsin
William & Mary vs. Michigan State
3:00 p.m. — singles only
Notre Dame vs. Indiana State
Rice vs. Purdue
5:00 p.m. — doubles only
Notre Dame vs. Harvard
Rice vs. Michigan
Ball State vs. William & Mary
Indiana State vs. Michigan State
Purdue vs. Wisconsin
Sat., Sept. 29
9:00 a.m. — singles only
Notre Dame vs. Harvard
Purdue vs. William & Mary
Ball State vs. Michigan State
11:00 a.m. — singles only
Wisconsin vs. Michigan
Indiana State vs. Rice
1:00 p.m. — singles only
Notre Dame vs. Ball State
Michigan vs. William & Mary
Michigan State vs. Wisconsin
3:00 p.m. — singles only
Indiana State vs. Purdue
Rice vs. Harvard
5:00 p.m. — doubles only
Notre Dame vs. Purdue
Harvard vs. Indiana State
Ball State vs. Wisconsin
Michigan State vs. William & Mary
Michigan vs. Rice
Sun, Sept. 30
9:00 a.m. — singles only
Notre Dame vs. Michigan
Harvard vs. William & Mary
Indiana State vs. Wisconsin
11:00 a.m. — singles only
Michigan State vs. Purdue
Ball State vs. Rice
1:00 p.m. — doubles only
TBA