Sept. 19, 2014
Olympia Fields, Ill. – The University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team got its fall schedule off to a fast start as team members competed in two tournaments on Friday. A majority of the squad participated in the Fighting Illini Invitational at Olympia Fields Country Club in Olympia Fields, Ill., while four players traveled to New Jersey to participate in the Farnsworth Ivy Plus, hosted by Princeton University in Princeton, N.J.
On the first day of competition at Olympia Fields, the Irish faced players from North Carolina State, Memphis and Illinois, winning four of eight singles matches and three of six doubles contests.
Junior Kenny Sabacinski (Plantation, Fla.) turned in a strong day for the Irish, winning his singles match versus Memphis’ Ryan Peniston, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. He also was part of two doubles wins, teaming with senior Wyatt McCoy (Shoreview, Minn.). The duo stopped NC State’s Robbie Mudge and Beck Bond, 8-3, and then took care of Illinois’ Aleks Vukic and Toshiki Matsuya, 8-5.
Also picking up wins in singles were sophomore Eddy Covalschi (Shelby Township, Mich.), junior Eric Schnurrenberger (Zug, Switzerland) and freshman Brendan Kempin (Sandy, Utah). Covalschi stopped Kentucky’s Jerry Lopez, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4, while Schnurrenberger outlasted Memphis’ Christian Langmo, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4. Kempin picked up his first win for Notre Dame with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Shakeel Manji of Memphis.
Freshman Drew Dawson (Irvine, Calif.) and junior Nicolas Montoya (Scottsdale, Ariz.) combined for the third Irish doubles win, knocking off Memphis’ duo of Bernard Tefel and Langmo, 8-7.
The six-team tournament returns to action at 9 a.m. (CT) on Saturday morning at the Olympia Fields Country Club.
“Today was a solid start to our fall season with some good performances, but we also know that we have a lot of work to do to be the best team that we can be,” said head coach Ryan Sachire. “Each of our guys has the goal to be better tomorrow than he was today, and we are excited to have the opportunity to get more quality matches as the weekend continues.”
Fighting Illini Invitational (Olympia Fields, Ill.)
Singles
Thomas Weigel (NC State) def. Nicolas Montoya (ND), 6-4, 7-6 (1)Eddy Covalschi (ND) def. Wilfredo Gonzalez (Memphis), 2-6, 6-4, 6-4Eric Schnurrenberger (ND) def. Christian Langmo (Memphis), 3-6, 7-5, 6-4Bernard Tefel (Memphis) def. Drew Dawson (ND), 6-3, 6-3Piotr Lomacki (Memphis) def. Quentin Monaghan (ND), 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (5)Brendon Kempin (ND) def. Shakeel Manji (Memphis), 6-3, 7-5Aleks Vukic (Illinois) def. Wyatt McCoy (ND), 6-3, 2-6, 6-2Kenny Sabacinski (ND) def. Ryan Peniston (Memphis), 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
Doubles Gonzales/Lomacki (Memphis) def. Quentin Monaghan/Eric Schnurrenberger (ND), 8-3 Peniston/Manji (Memphis) def. Eddy Covalschi/Brandon Kempin (ND), 8-6 Wyatt McCoy/Kenny Sabacinski (ND) def. Bond/Munge (NC State), 8-3 Drew Dawson/Nicolas Montoya (ND) def. Langmo/Tefel (Memphis), 8-7 Glennon/Watson (Memphis) def. Quentin Monaghan/Eric Schnurrenberger (ND), 8-3 Wyatt McCoy/Kenny Sabacinski (ND) def. Vukic/Matsuya (Illinois), 8-5
Farnsworth Ivy Invitational
(Princeton, N.J.) … While eight members of the University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team were competing in Illinois, seniors Billy Pecor (Houston, Texas), Dougie Barnard (Indianapolis, Ind.) and Michael Fredericka (Warren, Ohio), along with junior Alex Lawson (Tempe, Ariz.) were in action at the Farnsworth Ivy Invitational, hosted by Princeton University in Princeton, N.J.
In singles, Barnard and Fredericka both advanced to the quarterfinals on Saturday, while Pecor and Lawson dropped opening round matches and then fell in consolation action.
Barnard won his round of 16 match in the Jadwin Draw, defeating Princeton’s Luke Gamble, 6-4, 6-1. He will face Buffalo’s Pablo Alvarez in the quarters at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. Fredericka had a pair of tough sets, but held on for a 7-6, 7-6 win over Daniel Faierman of Yale in the Cordish Draw. He will meet Diego Vives of Princeton at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday in the round of eight.
Pecor opened in the Lenz Draw against Matt Nardella of the University of Pennsylvania and dropped a pair of tough sets, 7-5, 7-6. He then fell in the consolation round to Ashok Narayuma of Columbia, 4-6, 6-4 (10-3). Lawson, playing in the Nassau Draw lost his opening match, 7-6, 6-3 to Stefan Vitti. Princeton’s Tom Colautti then handed him a 3-6, 6-2 (10-8) in the consolation round.
Both Notre Dame doubles teams have advanced to the quarterfinals on Saturday. The duo of Barnard and Fredericka knocked off Columbia’s Taiyo Hamanaka and Eric Rubin, 8-5, to win their opening match in the Black Draw. In the round of 16, the Notre Dame seniors bounced Miami’s Nile Clark and Andrew Harrington by an 8-3 margin. They will face Jack Haworth and Ivan Kravtchenko of Brown at 8:30 a.m. Saturday.
Pecor and Lawson advanced in the Orange Draw to Saturday’s round of eight. They defeated Austin Kaplay and Blaine Willenborg of Pennsylvania, 8-2 and followed that with an 8-4 victory over Justin To and Brandon Yeoh of Brown. Their quarterfinal match up comes against Joao Montiero and Floran Nicard of Virginia Tech, starting at 8:30 a.m. “We have a high standard for how our program competes, and we didn’t meet that standard on all of our courts today. We will use that to build toward our personal and team goals.” assistant coach Adam Schaechterle said following today’s matches.
“We have a high standard for how our program competes, and we didn’t meet that standard on all courts today,” said assistant coach Adam Schaechterle. “But, we will use that to build toward our personal and team goals.”
Farnsworth Ivy Invitational (Princeton, N.J.)
Singles
Round of 16 - Lenz DrawMatt Nardella (Pennsylvania) def. Billy Pecor (ND), 7-5, 7-6
Consolation Round Ashok Narayana (Columbia) def. Billy Pecor (ND), 4-6, 6-4, 10-3
Round of 16 – Jadwin Draw Dougie Barnard (ND) def. Luke Gamble (Princeton), 6-4, 6-1
Round of 16 – Cordish Draw Michael Fredericka (ND) def. Daniel Faierman (Yale), 7-6, 7-6
Round of 16 – Nassau Draw Stefan Vitti (Cornell) def. Alex Lawson (ND), 7-6, 6-3
Consolation Round Tom Colautti (Princeton) def. Alex Lawson (ND), 3-6, 6-2, 10-8
Doubles – Black Draw Round of 32 Dougie Barnard/Michael Fredericka (ND) def. Hamanaka/Rubin (Columbia), 8-5
Round of 16 Dougie Barnard/Michael Fredericka (ND) def. Clark/Harrington (Miami), 8-3
Doubles – Orange Draw Round of 32 Alex Lawson/Billy Pecor (ND) def. Kaplay/Willenborg (Pennsylvania ), 8-2
Round of 16 Alex Lawson/Billy Pecor (ND) def. To/Yeoh (Brown), 8-4