Junior Quentin Monaghan

Men's Tennis Kicks Off 2014 Fall Season In Illinois And New Jersey

Sept. 18, 2014

Tournament Central – Princeton

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team will begin its 2014 fall season in earnest this weekend, with the squad splitting up to travel to two separate elite events.

Three seniors – Billy Pecor, Dougie Barnard and Michael Fredericka – and junior Alex Lawson will travel to Princeton, N.J., to compete in the Farnsworth Ivy Plus hosted by Princeton University at the Lenz Tennis Center.

The tournament consists of eight 16-player singles flights as well as two doubles draws with 32 pairs.

The event is played in honor of the late Ted Farnsworth, a 1984 Princeton graduate and former United States Navy serviceman who passed away in 1993. The tournament, which was formerly known as the Princeton/Farnsworth Invitational, is in its 46th year, and will include all eight Ivy League schools as well as 14 other teams from around the nation including Notre Dame.

Assistant coach Adam Schaechterle will travel to the tournament with Pecor, Barnard, Fredericka and Lawson, while head coach Ryan Sachire will travel to the Fighting Illini Invitational at Olympia Fields Country Club (Olympia Fields, Ill.) with Irish players Quentin Monaghan, Eddy Covalschi, Eric Schnurrenberger, Kenneth Sabacinski, Nicolas Montoya, Brendon Kempin and Drew Dawson.

Notre Dame’s opponents at the Fighting Illini Invitational are Illinois, Memphis, N.C. State, Kentucky and Miami (Fla.). Play will run from 9 a.m. (CT) to 5 p.m. (CT) on Friday and Saturday, while Sunday’s competition will run from 9 a.m. (CT) to 2 p.m. (CT).

Sachire is eager for the season to get underway, and has a few specific goals in mind for his players.

“We want our guys to play well. That’s the obvious goal. That’s the expectation,” Sachire said. “But more important than even their level of play and certainly more important than their individual results are going to be each of our guys preparing the right way and going out and competing the right way.”

As for the eagerness of the squad to begin competition, Sachire said his troops have been chomping at the bit for some competition besides playing each other.

“We’re excited to play,” Sachire said. “That’s the one thing – a lot of our guys did play in tournaments this summer. But I think chances are this is every player’s first college event of the new school year.

“There’s always going to be extra nerves and extra anticipation.”

Irish fans can track the players’ results during both tournaments at UND.com in addition to following the program on Twitter (@NDMensTennis).

–Connor Killoren, Media Relations Student Assistant

–ND–