Dec. 8, 2003
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – A pair of home matches on the 2004 Notre Dame men’s tennis schedule have been rescheduled for different dates and four have had their start times adjusted, head coach Bob Bayliss announced recently. The Irish contest with Wisconsin has been moved forward one day and now will be played on Sunday, Feb. 15 at Noon (EST), while Notre Dame will welcome SMU not in April, as originally scheduled, but on Sunday, Feb. 22 at Noon (EST). Both matches will take place in the Eck Tennis Pavilion.
One home match and three road tilts have had their start times changed. Both the Saturday, Feb. 21 contest at Northwestern and the Thursday, Feb. 26 match at defending national champion Illinois will now start at 4 p.m. (CST). The initial contest was scheduled for three hours earlier and the latter was supposed to be an hour later. Matches against Notre Dame’s top two BIG EAST rivals both had their start times moved up an hour to Noon. Those contests are the Sunday, Feb. 29 match at home vs. Miami and the Sunday, April 4 tilt at Virginia Tech.
The date changes mean that the entire 10-match home schedule for Notre Dame will take place in the Eck Tennis Pavilion and within the first 14 contests of the spring, concluding on Tuesday, March 2 vs. Michigan State. The Irish will then play the final three months of the season away from home.
Notre Dame begins its dual-match season on Saturday, Jan. 17 at Indiana at 1 p.m. (EST) before opening at home on Friday, Jan. 23 vs. Texas A&M at 4 p.m. (EST). The Hoosiers won the final match on-court to beat the Irish 4-3 in last year’s season opener, while the Aggies, who are expected to be ranked in the top 10 of the preseason national rankings, will be making their first-ever trip to Notre Dame.
The 2004 Irish schedule is still subject to further changes, but any adjustments will be announced on Notre Dame’s official athletic website, www.und.com, which also features the most up-to-date schedules of all Irish teams.