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Men's Tennis Wins 10 Of 11 Singles Matches On Final Day Of Tom Fallon Invitational

Sept. 30, 2001

Results

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team won 14 of 17 matches, including 10 of 11 singles tilts Sunday on the final day of the season-opening Tom Fallon Invitational at the Courtney Tennis Center and Eck Tennis Pavilion. The Irish finished the tournament winning 66 of 106 matches. Nineteen players registered victories for Notre Dame over the four-day event, while ten Irish players notched five or more wins.

Seniors Casey Smith (Leawood, Kan.) and Aaron Talarico (Laguna Beach, Calif.), as well as sophomore Luis Haddock-Morales (Caguas, Puerto Rico) all won in singles and doubles on Sunday for Notre Dame. Haddock-Morales lost only one game all day. He beat Michigan’s Jeremy Edelson 6-0, 6-1 before teaming up with Talarico to defeat the Wolverine pair of Anthony Jackson and Matt Lockin 8-0. Talarico had beaten Lockin 6-2, 6-3 earlier in singles, while Smith beat Jackson 6-4, 7-5 in singles and teamed with classmate Javier Taborga (La Paz, Bolivia) to beat Michigan’s Brett Baudinet and Greg Novak.

The 2001 Tom Fallon Invitational was a successful venture for many Irish players. Haddock-Morales was 6-0 in singles and 9-1 overall, bringing his career mark in the Tom Fallon Invitational to 17-1. Senior Andrew Laflin (Tampa, Fla.) was also 6-0 in singles play over the weekend and posted a 7-1 overall mark. Freshmen Paul McNaughton (Hinsdale, Ill.) and James Bass (Bronxville, N.Y.) were impressive in their collegiate debuts. McNaughton was 6-1, including winning all three of his singles matches, while Bass won all four of his contests. Junior Brian Farrell (Lilburn, Ga.) posted a 7-1 record in the tournament, while sophomore Matthew Scott (Paris, France) was 6-2 and senior Ashok Raju (Morgantown, W. Va.) was 5-2.

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.

The Irish will return to action October 5-14 in the ITA All-American Championships in Stone Mountain, Ga. The tournament will feature pre-qualifying from Oct. 5-8, qualifying from Oct. 9-10 and the main draw from Oct. 11-14. Smith was selected to play in the main draw in singles, while Talarico and Taborga will take part in the qualifying. Smith and Taborga will participate in the qualifying in doubles.

Singles

Greg Novak (Michigan) d. #76 Javier Taborga (ND) 7-5, 3-6, 1-0 (10-7)

#38 Casey Smith (ND) d. Anthony Jackson (M) 6-4, 7-5

Aaron Talarico (ND) d. Matt Lockin (M) 6-2, 6-3

#100 Luis Haddock-Morales (ND) d. Jeremy Edelson (M) 6-0, 6-1

Matthew Scott (ND) d. Brett Baudinet (M) 6-1, 6-3

Andrew Laflin (ND) d. Vineeth Gossain (M) 6-1, 6-2

Ben Hatten (ND) d. Jason Gonzaga (Wisconsin) 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), 1-0 (13-11)

Brian Farrell (ND) d. Michael Heule (Ball State) 6-2, 6-3

Brent D’Amico (ND) d. Matt Laramore (BS) 7-5, 6-2

Ashok Raju (ND) d. Travis Crawford (BS) 6-3, 6-4

Jimmy Rogers (ND) d. Klint Knable (BS) 6-3, 6-3

Doubles,

#34 Smith/Taborga (ND) d. Baudinet/Novak (M) 8-4

#30 Haddock-Morales/Talarico (ND) d. Jackson/Lockin (M) 8-0

Bryan Acken/Paul McNaughton (ND) d. Edelson/Gossain (M) 8-3

Sounak Chatterjee/Carl McCafferty (Purdue) d. Dalibor Mihajlovic (Ind. St.)/Tim Giattina (ND) 8-2

Crawford/Andy Rector (BS) d. Jake Cram/Rogers (ND) 8-5

James Bass/Chancey Martin (ND) d. Heule/Knable (BS) 8-6