May 14, 2002
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The 14th-ranked and 14th-seeded University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team (23-6) will travel to College Station, Texas this week to participate in the NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Championships. After winning a pair of matches last weekend in the Eck Tennis Pavilion, the Irish have advanced to the NCAA round of 16, in which they will take on the No. 3 seed, third-ranked Illinois, on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. Notre Dame and the Illini split a pair of regular-season meetings this season, with the Irish winning 4-3 on the road and Illinois taking a 4-2 decision in the final of the Blue/Gray National Tennis Classic, though Notre Dame was playing without senior Aaron Talarico (Laguna Beach, Calif.).
A victory would send Notre Dame into Sunday’s quarterfinals to face either No. 6 seed Baylor or 11th-seeded USC. The national semifinals will be played on Monday and the NCAA title match is slated for 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday evening and will be televised on a tape-delay basis by ESPN on May 28 at 2:30 p.m.
After the team competition, two Irish competitors will participate in the NCAA Singles & Doubles Championships, to be held at the same site. Fifteenth-ranked senior Javier Taborga (La Paz, Bolivia) earned an invitation to the singles tournament, which commences Wednesday, while he and classmate Casey Smith (Leawood, Kan.), the fifth-ranked doubles pair in the nation, will open play in the doubles championship on Thursday. The singles and doubles championships will progress through one round each day until May 27, when the final of both will be contested.
LAST TIME ON THE COURTS: Notre Dame played host to the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament last weekend in the Eck Tennis Pavilion and advanced to the round of 16 for the first time since 1994, when the Irish also won their own regional to move to the national site. Notre Dame faced Michigan in the first round, gaining a 4-0 victory over a Wolverine team that had upset the Irish 4-3 earlier in the season. The doubles point came down to the last match on-court on Saturday, with sophomore Luis Haddock-Morales (Caguas, Puerto Rico) and freshman Brent D’Amico (Centennial, Colo.) coming through with a 9-8 (8-6) victory after saving a match point in the tiebreaker. Leading 1-0 after having lost the doubles point to Michigan during the regular season, three Irish seniors completed the victory. Casey Smith (Leawood, Kan.) won at No. 2 and Andrew Laflin (Tampa, Fla.) turned in a victory at No. 6 before Javier Taborga (La Paz, Bolivia) clinched the victory with a 7-5, 6-3 win at No. 1 over #72 Henry Beam, who had defeated Taborga in straight sets earlier in the year.
In second-round action, Notre Dame shut out Purdue 4-0 to move into the final 16. Again the initial point of the match came down to the No. 3 doubles spot and for the second time in as many days, Haddock-Morales and D’Amico delivered, this time with a 9-7 triumph. Sophomore Matthew Scott (Paris, France) was off the court first for Notre Dame and was quickly followed by Laflin to put the Irish within a point of victory. Senior Aaron Talarico (Laguna Beach, Calif.) provided it with a straight-set win at No. 3.
IRISH IN THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP: Notre Dame earned the No. 14 overall seed in this year’s NCAA tournament and served as a host site for the first two rounds. For the fourth year in a row, the NCAA Championships consist of a 64-squad team tournament with the field featuring 31 conference champions receiving automatic berths and 33 at-large entrants, selected by the NCAA. The first and second rounds of the team championships were played at 16 campus sites last weekend. The 16 remaining teams advanced to the national site, the A&M Tennis Complex in College Station, Texas for the final four rounds, to be contested May 18-21. This year’s seeding marks the highest for the Irish since 1993. Notre Dame earned a 9-12 seed (four teams grouped, but not differentiated) in both the ’92 and ’93 tournaments. Since the current format was adopted in 1999, the Irish earned a 33-48 seed in the initial year and a 17-32 seed in each of the next two.
Contested since 1883, the national championship was the National Intercollegiate Championship through 1945, with the winner based on point standings from individual singles and doubles play. The format stayed constant, but the tournament became the NCAA Championship in 1946 and remained unchanged for the next 30 years. In 1977, the NCAA Championship became a 20-team event with all teams picked on an at-large basis. In 1994, the event developed into a regional format with the top eight teams in the country and eight regional winners advancing to a bracket of 16, played at a national site. In 1999, the 64-team championship dropped the regional format and implemented first- and second-round matches at 16 campus sites for every team in the championship.
Notre Dame has qualified for the NCAA tournament in each of the last 12 seasons — the longest active streak of any sport at Notre Dame. Only eight other schools in the country have qualified for each NCAA men’s tennis championship since 1991. Previously, the best results for Notre Dame since the team format was adopted in 1977 came in the program?s first four berths into the championships, reaching the round of 16 in 1991 and ?94, the quarterfinals in ?93 and losing to Stanford in the ?92 NCAA title match. The Irish have the distinction of being the lowest-seeded team to reach the NCAA final and also are the only northern school to ever participate in the national title match. The Irish have won a pair of national titles in men’s tennis, sharing the 1944 crown with Texas and Miami (Fla.) and earning another shared title with Tulane in 1959.
A season ago, the Irish traveled to Cambridge, Mass. for the NCAA tournament and defeated host Harvard 4-0 in the first round before losing 4-1 to the 15th seed, Washington. In that match, Haddock-Morales deliverd the lone Irish point with a straight-set victory at No. 3 singles, but the Huskies won the doubles point and matches at Nos. 1, 4 and 5 singles to gain victory.
The Courtney Tennis Center and Eck Tennis Pavilion have played host to NCAA tournament action four times in the past, but 2002 was the first time Notre Dame had seen NCAA action since the field was expanded to its current size of 64, in 1999. Notre Dame was the national site for the NCAA Championships in 1994 (one of only five schools to do so since ’77) and also played host to early-round NCAA action in 1994, ?95, ?96 and ?98.
IRISH vs. ILLINI: Illinois enters the match with an 25-4 record. The Illini reached the No. 1 ranking earlier in the season for the first time in history and are currently ranked third. The four teams to defeat Illinois were Stanford (4-3 in the final of the National Team Indoors), Duke (5-2), Notre Dame (4-3) and Georgia (5-2). The Illini are riding a 13-match winning streak and have not been defeated since losing to the Bulldogs on March 22.
The Illini played host to first- and second-round action last weekend and defeated Butler and Indiana State by 4-0 scores to advance to the round of 16.
Illinois had a strong showing in the National Team Indoor Championships in 2002. The Illini advanced to the final before losing 4-3 to Stanford in a match decided by a three-setter at No. 1 singles. In the semifinals, Illinois beat defending national champion Georgia 4-1. The Illini and Tennessee are the only teams to have defeated the Bulldogs this season. The Georgia win win capped a streak of four consecutive victories over opponents currently ranked in the national top 10. Illinois beat #8 Pepperdine in a regular season match 5-2 before reeling off 4-1 victories over #10 California and #7 Mississippi prior to the semifinals.
Five Illinois players are ranked in singles, as is the No. 1 doubles team. Amer Delic is the highest-ranked player at No. 12, while Brian Wilson (40th), Phil Stolt (67th), Michael Calkins (121st) are also ranked. Delic and Calkins are fourth in the doubles rankings.
The Irish and Illini have met twice this season, each gaining one victory. On March 7, just a day after Illinois fell from its perch atop the national rankings, Notre Dame edged Illinois 4-3 on the road in an indoor match. The Irish won the doubles point in a tiebreaker and the teams split the singles matches, though four were decided in three sets. In the final doubles match on-court, seniors James Malhame (Douglaston, N.Y.) and Ashok Raju (Morgantown, W. Va.) came through with a 9-8 (7-4) win at No. 2 to give the Irish a 1-0 lead. In singles, Illinois won three-setters at Nos. 3 and 5, while the Irish got three-set victories from seniors Andrew Laflin (Tampa, Fla.) at No. 6 and captain Casey Smith (Leawood, Kan.) at No. 2 in the final match on-court.
Eleven days later, Illinois got revenge in the final of the Blue/Gray Classic with a 4-2 victory, though the Irish were playing without No.3 singles and doubles player Aaron Talarico (Laguna Beach, Calif.), who suffered heat exhaustion in Notre Dame’s 4-3 win over Harvard. This time Illinois won the doubles point and gained wins at three of the five completed matches. The Illini got victories at Nos. 2 and 5 before Nathan Zeder clinched the win with a three-set triumph at No. 6.
Players from the teams also had a number of matchups in fall play. In doubles, Smith and Taborga split a pair of matches with Calkins and Delic in fall action, winning 9-7 in the semifinals en route to the consolation title at the ITA All-American Championships and losing 8-6 in the semifinals of the Omni Hotels Region IV Championships, where the Illini pair went on to win the title. There were three singles matches between the schools at the regional championships. Taborga defeated Kosta in straight sets in the third round, while Talarico fell to Phil Stolt. In the round of 16, Delic downed sophomore Luis Haddock-Morales (Caguas, Puerto Rico) 7-5, 7-6 (7-3).
In 2001, Illinois was ranked eighth in the preseason and finished 12th after going 22-7 and falling to Mississippi State 4-2 in the second round of the NCAA Championship. The Illini put together a 13-match winning streak in the middle of the season.
Illinois and the Irish will meet for the 32nd time and have matched up in each of the last 14 seasons. Notre Dame leads the series 19-12, but the Illini have won six of the last seven meetings. That span includes regular-season matches in each of the past five years and contests in the 2000 and 2002 Blue-Gray National Classics. Irish head coach Bob Bayliss won each of his first 10 meetings against Illinois before the current skid. The squads first met in 1933 with Illinois registering a 7-0 win.
A season ago, the Illini upset the 10th-ranked Irish by sweeping the doubles point and winning four singles matches, including three-set victories at Nos. 1 and 2.
FOLLOWING NOTRE DAME IN THE NCAAs: In-progress updates of action at the NCAA Championships can be obtained any of three ways: (1) live in-match scoring updates via either Notre Dame’s official athletic website, www.und.com, or the NCAA Championships website, www.aggieathletics.com/ncaatennis; (2) semi-live updates on the Notre Dame Sports Hotline at (574) 631-3000; (3) the cell phone of Sports Information contact Bo Rottenborn at (330) 831-1646.
The official website of the NCAA Championships, www.aggieathletics.com/ncaatennis, will have live scoring from all matches throughout the event and also features information about the tournaments. The Notre Dame Sports Hotline will be updated every 15-30 minutes and can be accessed by dialing (574) 631-3000 and choosing option #8 for tennis and #1 for men’s tennis.
The Notre Dame Sports Information office always is interested in assissting members of the media in their coverage of Irish men’s tennis. Interview requests should be directed to Rottenborn, who can be reached via cell phone or email (Rottenborn.2@nd.edu). More information and feature ideas can also be obtained from Rottenborn. The official website of the Notre Dame athletic department, www.und.com, is also available for consultation.
SMITH/TABORGA HEADED FOR NCAA DOUBLES CHAMPIONSHIP: Seniors Casey Smith (Leawood, Kan.) and Javier Taborga (La Paz, Bolivia), the fifth-ranked doubles pair in the nation, earned a bid to the 32-team NCAA Doubles Championships, to be played from May 23-27 in College Station, Texas. The pair has an opportunity to earn All-America honors, which are bestowed upon (1) the eight seeded doubles teams in the tournament; (2) the eight quarterfinalist pairs in the tournament; (3) the top 10 teams in the final edition of the Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis Rankings, to be released after the NCAA tournament.
Taborga has qualified for each of the last three NCAA doubles championships, paired with classmate Aaron Talarico (Laguna Beach, Calif.) for each of the last two. The Irish pair lost in the first round in both 2000 and 2001. Smith and Taborga are the 12th doubles team to qualify for the NCAA championships, all since 1991. Taborga and 1993 graduate Chuck Coleman are the only players in Notre Dame history to qualify for the NCAA doubles championships three times. Only once has an Irish pair advanced beyond the round of 16 in the NCAAs — Andy Zurcher and Todd Wilson fell in a tough three-set decision to USC?s Wayne Black and Jon Leach in the semifinals of the ?94 NCAAs, held at the Courtney Tennis Center. That pair earned doubles All-America honors, as did Coleman and David DiLucia in both 1991 and ’92, marking the only three instances of Irish pairs garnering the distinction.
Smith and Taborga are in the midst of one of the most successful seasons of doubles in school history, holding a 31-12 mark. Their victory total marks the highest by a doubles team in a season in the Bob Bayliss era (1988-present). The pair is 16-8 in dual-match action and has defeated 10 ranked teams. The Irish have eight wins over top-30 teams, as well as three over teams currently listed in the national top five (#1 Matkowski/Rojer of UCLA, two against #4 Calkins/Delic of Illinois). Smith and Taborga are just the second doubles team in school history to be ranked as high as No. 4 in the nation, a spot they occupied as recently as last week. DiLucia and Coleman were ranked No. 1 in the nation for a time. Taborga (77-45) and Smith (76-51) are listed fourth and sixth, respectively, on the list of career doubles wins in the Bayliss era. Taborga is just the fourth player in the Bayliss era to register 75 career wins in both singles and doubles, joining Andy Zurcher (’94), Ryan Simme (’97) and Brian Patterson (’99). He is 76-39 in singles and 77-45 in doubles.
This year’s Irish pair had a strong fall season that vaulted them from their No. 34 preseason ranking into the national top 10, where they have remained all spring. Smith and Taborga advanced through qualifying and posted a 6-1 mark (losing only to top-seeded Lipsky/Martin of Stanford) at the ITA All-American Championships en route to capturing the consolation title. The Irish team reached the semifinals in the Omni Hotels Region IV Championships, which helped them earn an at-large bid to the National Indoor Championships. In that tournament, Smith and Taborga defeated the current national No. 1, UCLA’s Matkowski/Rojer, on their way to losing in a tiebreaker in the semifinals.
TABORGA EARNS NCAA SINGLES CHAMPIONSHIP INVITE: Senior Javier Taborga (La Paz, Bolivia), ranked 15th nationally in singles, earned a bid to the 64-player NCAA Singles Championships, to be played from May 22-27 in College Station, Texas. Taborga has an opportunity to earn All-America honors, which are bestowed upon (1) the 16 seeded players in the tournament; (2) the players advancing to the round of 16 in the tournament; (3) the top 20 players in the final edition of the Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis Rankings, to be released after the NCAA tournament. Taborga could join five-time All-American David DiLucia (’92) as the only players in Notre Dame history to earn singles and doubles All-America honors in the same season.
Taborga is the ninth player in the program?s history to earn a berth in the NCAA singles championships, while his invitation represents the 16th extended to Irish players. 2000 graduate Ryan Sachire was the last Irish player to participate in the tournament, earning a bid in each of his four years.
After never playing higher than No. 2 singles prior to this season, Taborga has turned into one of the top singles players in the nation in 2002. He has posted an 18-5 record at No. 1 and is 27-11 overall, including eight wins over players currently ranked in the top 40 in the nation. He is the only player in the nation to have registered wins over both the nation’s current No. 1 singles player (Matias Boeker of Georgia) and the nation’s top-ranked doubles pair (Matkowski/Rojer of UCLA). Taborga is 20-6 this spring and overall has registered a total of 15 wins over players currently ranked. Highlights of his play include wins over defending NCAA singles and doubles champion Boeker of Georgia, #12 Amer Delic of Illinois (twice in 11 days), #23 Alex Hartman of Mississippi, #24 Danny Westerman of Wisconsin, #27 Jeremy Wurtzman of Ohio State, #33 Todd Widom of Miami, #38 Krystian Pfeiffer of SMU and #43 Michael Yani of Duke. Taborga has lost just seven times in his last 30 matches, dating back to October, and all of those defeats have come to players currently in the national rankings (#3 Al Garland of Pepperdine, #4 Harsh Mankad of Minnesota, #6 Jesse Witten of Kentucky, #33 Todd Widom of Miami, #66 Milan Rakvica of Indiana, #72 Henry Beam of Michigan and #79 Aleksey Zharinov of Minnesota). He was named the Most Outstanding Player at the Blue-Gray National Classic after winning all four of his matches, including an upset of ninth-ranked Delic and a win over Harvard’s David Lingman in the last match on-court to earn the Irish a spot in the championship match. At last year’s ITA All-American Championships, Taborga defeated Stanford’s K.J. Hippensteel, currently ranked second in the nation, denying Hippensteel of the title he won in both 1999 and 2001. Out of Taborga’s 11 losses, nine were to players currently ranked in the top 80 and three were decided in match tiebreakers. He advanced to the quarterfinals in last fall’s Region IV Championships before falling to Mankad. Taborga is 21-0 when winning the first set this season and 8-0 in three-set matches. In 2001, he was 23-12 playing No. 2 singles and was 5-3 against ranked players.
THE WINNING WAY: Notre Dame’s wins in the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament improved its record to 23-6, marking the most wins for an Irish team since 1994. That squad advanced to the round of 16 before finishing the season 23-10. The only Irish team under Bob Bayliss to win more than 23 matches was the 1990 squad, which was 24-4. The school record for wins in a season is 27, set by the 1981 team that finished 27-9.
REMARKABLE RANKINGS: The Irish have had a number of notable rankings this season in both the team and individual Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis Rankings. On two occasions this year, Notre Dame was ranked fourth in the team rankings — the second-highest ranking in school history. The only time the Irish were ranked higher was in the final poll of the 1992 season, when Notre Dame was No. 3 after losing in the NCAA final.
Senior Javier Taborga (La Paz, Bolivia) has been ranked as high as 11th in the national singles rankings, marking the highest listing by an Irish singles player since Ryan Sachire finished the 2000 season ranked 11th. Taborga is just the third player in school history to be ranked as high as No. 11 nationally in singles. Sachire was ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation and David DiLucia (’92) is the only Notre Dame player to be ranked No. 1 in the nation in singles.
Taborga and classmate Casey Smith (Leawood, Kan.), who were fourth in the national doubles rankings earlier this season, are just the second doubles team in school history to be ranked as high as No. 4. DiLucia and Chuck Coleman, who earned doubles All-America honors in 1991 and 1992, were ranked No. 1 in the nation for a time.
TOUGH SLATE: The road to the sweet 16 has been a challenging one for Notre Dame this year. Out of 29 dual matches for the Irish this spring, 25 times the opponent was ranked in the national top 75 at the time of the match. Out of the 25 teams Notre Dame faced, 18 qualified for the NCAA tournament and and six are still alive in the round of 16. Notre Dame was 19-6 against ranked teams in 2002. Of the opponents on the ’02 slate, 17 are currently ranked in the national top 50 and eight are in the top 25. In addition, Notre Dame played six matches against teams currently in the national top nine (#1 Georgia, #7 Missisippi, #8 Pepperdine, #9 Kentucky and two against #3 Illinois) and the Irish faced 17 teams that advanced to the NCAA tournament a season ago, including six round-of-16 participants and half of the teams who advanced to the final four (SMU and national champion Georgia).
IRISH HEAD COACH: Bob Bayliss is in his 15th year at Notre Dame with a 284-127 (.691) record and his 33rd year as a collegiate coach with a 566-221 mark. His .719 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. Bayliss is also a four-time Region IV coach of the year (including 2001) and has been honored as conference coach of the year six times (three BIG EAST, four Midwestern Collegiate Conference), including the 2002 BIG EAST coach-of-the-year award. He is second among all-time Irish coaches in wins, trailing only Hall-of-Famer Tom Fallon’s 511. Bayliss began his coaching career at Navy, where he coached for 11 years, and then coached at MIT for three years before coming to Notre Dame in 1988. Earlier this year, Bayliss was inducted into the University of Richmond Athletics Hall of Fame. Bayliss, who earned a bachelor?s degree in 1966 and a master?s degree in 1971 from the university, played No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles as a senior on the Spider tennis team.
FAMILIAR FOES: Notre Dame is no stranger to most of the other 15 remaining teams in the NCAA tournament. The Irish played six of the teams this season, compiling a 3-4 mark (wins vs. Duke, Pepperdine, Illinois & losses to Georgia, Mississippi, Illinois and Kentucky). In all, twelve of the 15 teams have been opponents of the Irish over the last four seasons — during the careers of the current senior class.
GOING DEEP: The lower half of the singles lineup has been a strength for Notre Dame over the past two seasons. Last year, the Nos. 4, 5 and 6 spots compiled a combined 53-11 (.828) record in dual matches. In 2002, the bottom half of the singles lineup is 62-16 (.795), making the spots a combined 115-27 (.810) over the past two seasons. The No. 4 singles position, in particular, has been a strength of the Irish. Last year, Notre Dame players compiled a 21-2 record in that slot and all three competitors responsible for that mark returned to the fold in 2002. This season, Irish players are 21-4 at No. 4, making Notre Dame a combined 42-6 (.875) at the position over the past two seasons.
Three Irish players have been particularly dominant playing in the bottom part of the singles lineup this spring. Sophomore Luis Haddock-Morales (Caguas, Puerto Rico) is 27-6 overall this season and 18-5 in dual-match action, playing mostly at No. 4. He has won 11 of his last 13 matches. Classmate Matthew Scott (Paris, France) leads the team in victories with a 32-4 mark, including a sparkling 24-2 record this spring, playing mostly No. 5. His 24 dual-match victories are tied for third on the Bayliss-tenure list of singles dual-match wins in a season. In his career, Scott is 49-9 in singles. Senior Andrew Laflin (Tampa, Fla.) is 24-1 in 2001-02, including 18-1 this spring, playing mostly at No. 6. He has won 38 of his last 41 singles tilts and his .960 winning percentage is easily the highest in a season by any player under Bayliss.
FINISH WHAT YA STARTED: The top seven singles players for the Irish have been very successful when winning the first set this season. They have combined for a 141-8 (.946) record in 2001-02 when taking the opening set. Particularly successful have been Luis Haddock-Morales (23-0, 38-0 career), Andrew Laflin (22-0, 37 in a row), Matthew Scott (29-1), Javier Taborga (22-0) and Aaron Talarico (17-1).
TAKE IT TO THE LIMIT: Notre Dame players have been successful in third sets this season, with the top six players posting a combined 31-11 (.738) mark in three-setters. Over the past 10 matches, Irish players have posted a 9-2 record in three-set matches. Against Indiana State and SMU, there were three tilts decided in three sets and the Irish won all of them in both cases. Senior Javier Taborga (La Paz, Bolivia) has been particularly dominant, winning all eight of his three-set affairs this season.
TABORGA, PATE EARN REGIONAL HONORS: Irish senior Javier Taborga (La Paz, Bolivia) and assistant coach Billy Pate earned recognition when the Intercollegiate Tennis Association released its regional awardwinners this week. Taborga was named ITA Senior Player of the Year for the Midwest region and also was designated the regional nominee for the ITA John Van Nostrand Memorial Award, which is a cash stipend for a player pursuing professional tennis after graduation. Pate was named the Assistant Coach of the Year for Region IV. Taborga and Pate are eligible, along with the other seven regional awardwinners, to win the national awards, to be announced May 23. Taborga was also named team MVP and a nominee for Verizon Academic All-America honors this month.
HADDOCK HONORED: Sophomore Luis Haddock-Morales (Caguas, Puerto Rico) was named the Olympic Athlete of the Year for Tennis last week by the United States Olympic Committee for Puerto Rico. Haddock-Morales is a three-time member of the Puerto Rican Davis Cup team, won the Puerto Rican national doubles championship in August 2000 and advanced to the final of the national singles championship. The Irish sophomore also was honored with the Student-Athlete Award Haddock-Morales is the second player in Irish men’s tennis history from Puerto Rico (Pedro Rossello ’66).
IRISH INK FIVE: Bob Bayliss recently announced the signing of five incoming freshman for the 2002-03 school year. Patrick Buchanan (Fullerton, Calif.), Shannon Buck (New Braunfels, Texas), Eric Langenkamp (Scarsdale, N.Y.), Sergey Leonyuk (Boca Raton, Fla.) and Steve Roszak (Shawnee Mission, Kan.) have signed national letters of intent to enroll at Notre Dame next year and join the Irish tennis team in the fall. Buchanan is ranked 43rd nationally among players 18 and under and is ranked 20th among high school seniors in the U.S. Buck was ranked fifth in the 16-and-under division last year and is 32nd in the 18s, ranking 13th among seniors. Langenkamp is 67th in the 18s and is the top-ranked high school senior in the Eastern section of the United States Tennis Association and is 33rd among all Americans entering college next year. Leonyuk is a native of Russia who has done well in International Tennis Federation junior tournaments and Bayliss expects him to play at the level of a top 10-to-20 junior in the U.S. Roszak was ranked 44th in the 16s last year and recently won a designated sectional tournament in the MUTA.
BIG EAST’S BEST: The University of Notre Dame has set the conference record for BIG EAST championships in an academic year, to which the men’s tennis squad contributed. The Irish have captured league titles in seven sports this season — men’s cross country, women’s soccer, volleyball, women’s swimming and diving, women’s indoor track and field, men’s tennis and softball. The BIG EAST record for championships in a season was six, set by Notre Dame in 1996-97, until the Irish softball team captured last weekend’s title. The Irish have an opportunity to add to this season’s total in the BIG EAST baseball championship, to be held in two weeks.
GETTING YOUR TIMING DOWN: Just a reminder that South Bend never changes its clocks, remaining on Eastern Standard Time throughout the year. From now through the end of October, Notre Dame basically will be on Central time, since Eastern Standard Time is the equivalent of Central Daylight Time. When most of the rest of the country returns to Standard time the last Saturday in October, Notre Dame then will match Eastern time.