Feb. 13, 2015
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team will head to Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Saturday to take on No. 47 Michigan at the Varsity Tennis Center.
The Wolverines (1-4) have lost four straight matches, all against teams in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s top 35. Notre Dame and Michigan last played in 2013, when the Irish emerged as a 4-3 winner in a match featuring four three-set singles matches and two doubles tiebreakers. Notre Dame clinched the win with a three-set victory at No. 4 singles by current senior Billy Pecor.
The Irish and Wolverines face off at 6 p.m. ET on Saturday in Ann Arbor. will be available. For the latest on the Irish, follow @NDMensTennis on Twitter and like Notre Dame Men’s Tennis on Facebook.
IRISH NOTABLES
- The Atlantic Coast Conference has moved to re-implement the regular scoring format utilized in 2014. To this point in the season, matches have been played with no-ad scoring, based on the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s recommendations for increasing pace of play. All conference matches will once again include an eight-game pro-set for the doubles point with a tiebreak at 7-7, and advantage scoring will be used. For men’s play, all doubles and singles matches will be played out unless agreed upon by both head coaches prior to the start of the match. No-ad scoring will be used in the match against Michigan.
- In the latest ITA singles poll, junior Quentin Monaghan jumped from No. 37 to No. 29, while sophomore Josh Hagar fell from No. 82 to No. 92. In doubles, Billy Pecor and Alex Lawson jumped to No. 4 from No. 8, and Hagar and Eddy Covalschi fell from No. 9 to No. 17. The Irish join Texas A&M as the only programs with two doubles squads ranked in the ITA top 20.
- Pecor and Lawson make up the only doubles duo from the ACC in the top 10. In addition to Hagar and Covalschi, North Carolina State’s Ian Dempster and Robbie Mudge (No. 18) are the only other ACC doubles pair ranked in the top 20.
- Notre Dame is one of four ACC schools with both men’s and women’s programs ranked in the ITA top 20. The Irish men are ranked 16th, while the women rank 20th. Other ACC programs include North Carolina (women No. 1, men No. 7), Virginia (women No. 7, men No. 3) and Duke (women No. 16, men No. 6).
- Notre Dame is one of five programs with at least one men’s and women’s doubles tandem ranking in the top 20 nationally. The Irish join USC, Vanderbilt, UCLA and Oklahoma State with representatives on the list. Of those programs, Notre Dame is the only school with three such doubles pairs (women’s No. 14 Quinn Gleason / Monica Robinson; men’s No. 4 Billy Pecor / Alex Lawson, No. 17 Josh Hagar / Eddy Covalschi).
By Joanne Norell, Media Relations Assistant
–ND–