Jan. 25, 2013
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The No. 30 University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team hits the road for the first time during the 2013 spring season when it heads to Norman, Okla., for the ITA Kick-off Weekend. The Irish meet No. 28 Harvard Saturday at 11 a.m. (ET) and then either No. 8 Oklahoma or No. 31 Memphis at either 10 a.m. or 1 p.m. Sunday. All matches are free to the public and will take place at the Gregg Wadley Indoor Tennis Pavilion.
The four-team site is one of 15 around the nation involving 60 of the top teams in the country. The winners of each bracket will advance to next month’s ITA National Men’s Team Indoor Championship which will be held at the University of Washington. Oklahoma was chosen as host based on their top-15 ranking to end the 2012 season.
Notre Dame (2-1) is coming off a tough three-plus hour match to No. 37 Northwestern Tuesday night in which the Wildcats claimed the doubles point and then earned victories at three, four and five singles to earn the road win. The Irish started off the season with a pair of 7-0 wins over Marquette and Western Illinois last Saturday. The Irish are still led by four ranked singles players in No. 80 Greg Andrews, No. 88 Billy Pecor, No. 110 Blas Moros and No. 120 Wyatt McCoy. The doubles team of Andrews and Spencer Talmadge remains No. 51.
Oklahoma (1-0) boasts three ranked singles players in No. 36 Guillermo Alcorta, No. 71 Dane Webb and No. 103 Costin Paval and three ranked doubles duos in Paval and Webb (No. 12), Axel Alvarez Llamas and Alcorta (No. 32) and Alvarez Llamas and Webb (No. 50).
Memphis (1-0) has a pair of ranked singles competitors in No. 64 Joe Salisbury and No. 70 Johnny Grimal.
Harvard (0-0) has yet to compete in a dual match this spring, but did find great success at the Harvard Winter Invite last weekend. The Irish and the Crimson played several matches this past fall at the Tribe Invitational, with Notre Dame taking eight of nine singles matches and two of three doubles contests. Five of the eight singles contests were straight sets.
All four teams qualified for the 2012 NCAA Championship, with the Irish, Sooners and Crimson all advancing to the second round.
Fans can follow both of Notre Dame’s matches through live stats. Links are provided on UND.com.
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