Sept. 30, 2016
By Joanne Norell
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Three University of Notre Dame men’s tennis student-athletes will return to the court this week as competition kicks off at the 2016 Saint Francis Health System ITA Men’s All-American Championships, hosted by the University of Tulsa.
WHAT: 2016 Saint Francis Health System ITA Men’s All-American Championships
WHO: Top national singles and doubles players
WHERE: Case Tennis Center | Tulsa, Okla.
WHEN: October 1-10, 2016
LIVE STREAM: Pre-Qualifying & Qualifying | Main Draw
TWITTER: @NDMensTennis
EVENT PAGE
All-American Information
The first Intercollegiate Tennis Association national championship of the 2016-17, the ITA All-American Championships will be held at the Case Tennis Center for the 12th straight season. Prequalifying matches are slated to being Saturday, October 1, with qualifying matches starting on October 3 and main draw contests commencing on October 6. The singles and doubles finals are slated for October 10.
Irish Entries
Three Irish student-athletes are slated to compete in Tulsa. Seniors Josh Hagar and Eddy Covalschi, who enter the season tied for No. 26 in the Oracle/ITA Division I Men’s National Doubles Rankings, were selected to compete in the doubles qualifying round, but are third on the main draw doubles alternate list. Hagar, who ranks at No. 70 in the preseason poll, and Covalschi will also both compete in qualifying singles, beginning Monday, while sophomore Alex Lebedev is slated to compete in pre-qualifying matches beginning Saturday. Draws have not yet been released, but will be updated on the ITA website.
Last Time Out
The Irish kicked off the season two weeks ago at Harvard’s Chowdah fest, collecting a pair of runner-up finishes at the event. Hagar took second in the singles competition with a 2-1 weekend record, while Hagar and Lebedev combined for a runner-up finish in doubles with a 3-1 mark.
— ND —
Joanne Norell, athletics communications assistant director at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since 2014 and coordinates communications efforts for the Notre Dame women’s soccer, men’s tennis, women’s tennis and fencing programs. Norell is a 2011 graduate of Purdue University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in mass communication, and earned her master’s degree in sports industry management from Georgetown University in 2013.