Jan. 18, 2013
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The No. 30 University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team kicks off the 2013 spring season with a pair of matches Saturday at Eck Tennis Pavilion. The Irish welcome in BIG EAST foe Marquette at 11 a.m. before playing host to Western Illinois at 5 p.m.
The Irish enter the spring season on a high note after a successful fall season saw four student-athletes earn preseason singles rankings – No. 80 Greg Andrews, No. 88 Billy Pecor, No. 110 Blas Moros and No. 120 Wyatt McCoy – and the doubles duo of Andrews and Spencer Talmadge secure a preseason ranking of No. 51. In the Midwest region, Andrews (No. 6), Moros (No. 7), Pecor (No. 9), Quentin Monaghan (No. 16) and McCoy (No. 19) earned singles rankings and Andrews and Talmadge (No. 3) and Alex Lawson and Pecor (No. 8) received doubles rankings.
Marquette returns seven players from a 2011-12 team that went 10-13 and lost in the first round of the BIG EAST Tournament. A pair of juniors in Logon Collins (16-15) and Dan Mamalat (21-12) returns for the Golden Eagles as does sophomore Cameron Tehrani (20-10).
The Leathernecks are led by former Irish player Chris Kane (1972-75) and look to improve upon a 4-15 record from a year ago. WIU could have at least two freshmen in the lineup with the rest of the singles spots claimed by upperclassmen. Senior Patrick Hammers is a two-time all-Summit League selection and should play near the top of the lineup. Sophomore Mitch Granger is ranked 17th in the ITA Central Region rankings.
Notre Dame is 47-0 all-time against Marquette, including 7-0 under head coach Bobby Bayliss. Last year the Irish won 6-1 at the Eck Tennis Center. The matchup with the Leathernecks will be there first between the two schools.
Fans can follow both matches through live stats. A link for both matches is available on UND.com.
–ND–