Sophomore Quentin Monaghan

No. 32 Irish Set For BIG EAST Showdown With Rival No. 47 Louisville

April 12, 2013

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The No. 32 University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team closes out the regular season on the road this Saturday as the Irish meet BIG EAST rival Louisville (No. 47) at Bass-Rudd Tennis Center. Fans can follow the 2 p.m. (ET) match through the live stats link on UND.com.

The Irish and Cardinals have had an intense rivalry since Louisville joined the BIG EAST in 2005. While the Cardinals hold a 7-5 advantage since 2005, several of the matches have come down to the wire and have had BIG EAST ramifications. Last year the Irish claimed a tight 5-2 win over the Cardinals at Courtney Tennis Center on senior day to snap a six-match losing streak against Louisville.

Notre Dame (15-7, 2-0 BIG EAST) is coming off three impressive wins last weekend where it topped then-No. 65 SMU (6-1), BIG EAST rival USF (6-1) and Butler (7-0). Helping the Irish earn three wins was junior Greg Andrews (No. 89), who went 3-0 in both singles and doubles. For his efforts the reigning BIG EAST Player of the Year was named BIG EAST Player of the Week for the fourth time this dual season and for the seventh time of his career.

Andrews is 14-7 during the spring season at No. 1 singles. Elsewhere in the lineup, freshman Quentin Monaghan is 14-4, with the last 12 coming at No. 2, Blas Moros is 12-5, with the last 10 coming at No. 3, and Billy Pecor is 11-7 playing primarily at four.

In doubles freshman Alex Lawson and Pecor have taken over the top spot as they have put together an 8-7 record and a No. 82 national ranking.

The Cardinals (13-11) are coming off a weekend split where they upset then-No. 24 VCU, 4-2, before falling to then-No. 46 Memphis, 4-0. Leading the way for Louisville is sophomore standout Sebastian Stiefelmeyer (No. 66), who is 12-9 at the No. 1 spot and has earned three BIG EAST Player of the Week citations this season. Elsewhere in the singles lineup, Alex Gornet is 12-5 playing between four and six and Van Damrongsri is 7-1 playing between five and six.

Following the match with the Cardinals, the Irish return home for the BIG EAST Men’s Championship, which will be held at Courtney Tennis Center from Thursday -Sunday (April 18-21).

Opening Serve

Notre Dame has owned the BIG EAST Men’s Tennis Player of the Week award this spring season, winning eight of the 12 awards the league office has announced … junior Greg Andrews has won four 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 six wins over teams that are ranked in the April 9 ITA poll – No. 24 Michigan, No. 29 Illinois, No. 36 Memphis, No. 48 Michigan State, No. 51 Cornell and No. 75 Wisconsin.

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. 4 USC, No. 5 Ohio State, No. 8 Kentucky, No. 9 Duke, No. 19 Harvard, No. 34 Northwestern and No. 46 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 11-2 when winning the doubles point … the two losses came at Kentucky and to Boise State at the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic.

–ND–