Oct. 12, 2001
STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. – Irish seniors Casey Smith (Leawood, Kan.) and Javier Taborga (La Paz, Bolivia) won two matches Friday to advance to the semifinals of the consolation bracket in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-American Championships at the Lincoln Tennis Center. The pair will take on 14th-ranked regional rivals Michael Calkins and Amer Delic of Illinois on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. Saturday’s other consolation semifinal match features the 26th-ranked team of James Cameron and John Chesworth of Furman and #24 Richard Barker and William Barker of Rice.
Smith and Taborga, ranked 34th, knocked off Olivier Levant and Eleazar Magallan of Florida 8-3 in their first match on Friday. The Florida pair was ranked 12th in the nation and Levant won the doubles title at this tournament a season ago.
The Irish team continued its winning ways with a 9-8 (7-1) win over Steve Berke and Dustin West of Yale in the consolation quarterfinals. Smith and Taborga dominated the Yale team 7-1 in the tiebreaker to secure the victory.
The ITA All-American Championships, the Nov. 8-11 Omni Hotels National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, and the year-end NCAA Championships are college tennis’ three national championship events during the season. From 1986 until last year there were four national events, but the ITA National Clay Court Championships is no longer played.