ITA Hall of Fame head coach Bobby Bayliss and senior Blas Moros will both be honored Saturday before the USF match.

No. 31 Irish Return Home For Trio Of Weekend Matches

April 4, 2013

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The No. 31 University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team returns home this weekend for a busy two days of matches highlighted by Senior Day Saturday.

The Irish open up the weekend with a 4 p.m. Friday match against the No. 65 SMU Mustangs before welcoming in BIG EAST rival South Florida (1 p.m.) and Butler (6 p.m.) for a Saturday doubleheader. Prior to the match against the Bulls the Irish will recognize three senior student-athletes, Michael Moore, Blas Moros and Spencer Talmadge, and senior manager Bianca Fox.

The decision on whether the matches will be outside or inside has yet to be determined, but stay tuned to UND.com, Twitter (@NDMensTennis) and Facebook (Facebook.com/NDMensTennis) for more information leading up to the match.

Notre Dame (12-7) is riding a two-match win streak having knocked off William & Mary (6-1) and Ball State (5-2) in recent weeks.

Leading the way is No. 109 Greg Andrews, who is 11-7 at one singles this spring season. Freshman Quentin Monaghan sits at 11-4 playing primarily at two, while Moros is 10-5 playing primarily at three. Billy Pecor (9-6), Moore (7-4), Wyatt McCoy (8-5) and Ryan Bandy (5-3) have also turned in strong showings rotating in the four through six slots.

SMU (7-7) started off the year 0-4 before winning seven of its next 10 matches to sneak into the rankings at No. 65. Along the way they have beaten then-No. 70 Tulane, 4-3, and have run off three straight wins over Marquette (6-1), Oklahoma State (4-3) and Idaho (4-2).

No. 124 Arturs Kazijevs leads the Mustangs with a 9-4 singles record at the top spot. Also boasting winning records are Mischa Nowicki and Nate Lammons, who both sit at 7-6 and occupy the bottom half of the lineup. In doubles Kazijevs and Nowicki are 7-4 at the top spot and ranked 75th in the country.

USF (7-8) is coming off a 5-2 loss to then-No. 63 UNC-Wilmington last Friday. The Bulls close out the regular season on the road before making a return trip to Notre Dame for the BIG EAST Championships.

The Bulls boast one ranked doubles duo in Oliver Pramming and Ignacio Gonzalez-Muniz, who are No. 59.

Butler (8-10) has had a hot and cold season thus far as they have won and lost at least three matches in a row two times each. The Bulldogs are in the midst of a three-match losing skid, having dropped contests to Ball State (5-2), Western Michigan (5-2) and No. 69 Indiana (7-0).

Billy Weldon (12-5), who plays between four and six singles, holds the best spring singles record on the team.

Fans can follow all three matches through the live stats link on UND.com.

Opening Serve

Notre Dame has owned the BIG EAST Men’s Tennis Player of the Week award this spring season, winning seven of the 11 awards the league office has announced … junior Greg Andrews has won three times, fellow junior Billy Pecor has won twice and senior Blas Moros and freshman Quentin Monaghan has won once each.

The victory over Cornell at the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic gave the Irish five wins over teams that are ranked in the April 2 ITA poll – No. 28 Illinois, No. 34 Michigan, No. 46 Memphis, No. 48 Cornell and No. 49 Michigan State.

All of Notre Dame’s seven losses this season are to teams ranked in the top 50 of this week’s ITA poll, including six teams in the top 25 … the losses were to No. 3 USC, No. 5 Ohio State, No. 8 Kentucky, No. 9 Duke, No. 18 Harvard, No. 29 Northwestern and No. 45 Boise State … four of the seven losses have come in 4-3 setbacks.

Notre Dame is 4-5 when losing the doubles point … three of the four wins have come over ranked foes – Michigan, Wisconsin and Cornell … the Irish are 8-2 when winning the doubles point … the two losses came at Kentucky and to Boise State at the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic.

–ND–