March 4, 2004
LA JOLLA, Calif. – The 46th-ranked University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team had a pair of doubles teams advance through qualifying to the main draw of the Pacific Coast Doubles Classic Thursday at the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club. The Irish will have a total of four doubles teams in the main draw when competition begins Friday.
Senior Paul Hidaka (Tokyo, Japan/St. Mary’s International School) and sophomore Patrick Buchanan (Fullerton, Calif./Servite H.S.) were unbeaten in qualifying, as was the pair of sophomore Eric Langenkamp (Scarsdale, N.Y./Scarsdale H.S.) and freshman Stephen Bass (Bronxville, N.Y./Iona Preparatory School). The team of freshmen Barry King (Dublin, Ireland/Gonzaga College) and Irackli Akhvlediani (Vienna, Austria/Vienna International School) suffered a loss Thursday and was, thus, relegated to backdraw action.
Notre Dame’s top two doubles teams — junior tri-captain Brent D’Amico (Castle Rock, Colo./St. Stephen’s Episcopal School [TX]) and freshman Ryan Keckley (South Bend, Ind./St. Joseph’s H.S.) and senior tri-captains Luis Haddock (Caguas, P.R./Notre Dame H.S.) and Matthew Scott (Oakton, Va./International School of Paris) — also will be in action in the main draw.
The Pacific Coast Doubles Classic is a doubles-only tournament open to non-collegiate players. It attracts some of the top current and former college players in the country each year and traditionally has offered Notre Dame its first opportunity to play outdoors during the spring season. Over the last eight years, the Irish have participated in the tournament every year except 1999. Results do not count toward players’ official records.