M. Tennis Strengthens National Reputation

It was just four months ago that the Notre Dame men’s tennis team rolled through the Beren Tennis Center, defeating Harvard with ease in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

So the Crimson readily accepted a chance to compete in this weekend’s Tom Fallon Invitational in South Bend. Even though players were competing on an individual basis, the tournament still gave the Harvard team an opportunity to exact some revenge.

Playing in a “hidden dual” format, where opponents compete against players from the same team,0 but team scores are not kept, the Crimson won 23 of 35 singles matches (66 percent) and eight of ten doubles contests.

It is an impressive result considering the level of competition that showed up at Notre Dame.

“It’s always healthy to be reminded of how intensely competitive tennis is at a high national level,” Harvard Coach David Fish ‘72 said in a press release.

On Friday, Harvard, which finished last season ranked No. 45 in the nation, faced off in singles against Wisconsin. Of the eight matches played against the Badgers, who finished the 2001 season at No. 57 they won all but one.

Co-captain William Lee had the toughest win, beating Wisconsin’s David Hippee 1-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-4 in the “super-tiebreaker” format employed at Notre Dame). Harvard’s only loss came at the expense of freshman Jonathan Chu, who lost to Scott Rutherford 5-7, 6-3, 1-0 (12-10).

Later that day, the Crimson played eight singles matches against Michigan, who last season finished at No. 44 in the national rankings. Harvard took six of the contests, once again led by Lee, who beat the Wolverines’ Anthony Jackson 7-6 (9-7), 7-5.

Junior Oli Choo, sophomore Cliff Nguyen and freshman Brent Saiontz all registered straight-set victories over Michigan opponents as well.

The most impressive win of the day, however, came for Harvard’s double team of Choo and Chu, who defeated Notre Dame’s No. 34-ranked duo of Javier Taborga and Casey Smith, 8-5.

It wasn’t until Saturday morning that the Crimson got to go up against some of the Fighting Irish.

Lee, whose match against Smith in the NCAA tournament was suspended, faced Taborga instead this weekend. Taborga, who is also ranked No. 76 in the country in singles, dropped the first set 6-4 but quickly got back in the match with 6-2 win in the second set.

Lee finished off the upset when he defeated Taborga in the super-tiebreaker, 10-7.

Nguyen wasn’t as fortunate in his matchup against Smith. The Notre Dame captain and 38th-ranked singles player in college tennis took the first set, 6-4. But the Harvard sophomore toughened up and won the second, 6-4 as well.

This time, the luck of the Irish prevailed, as Smith took the super tie-breaker 10-6.

Overall, out of the nine matches played, Harvard beat Notre Dame in four of them.

Nguyen got a redemption of sorts later Saturday evening, when he faced off against Rice’s Matthias Mathaes, ranked No. 100 in the country. Nguyen won in straight sets, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4.

“I’m impressed with the attitude of our players to see their wins and losses this weekend as building blocks to better their games,” Fish said.

To finish off the weekend in South Bend, the Crimson split four singles matches Sunday morning with William and Mary.

In separate action, Harvard sent a few of its freshmen and lower-ranked players to the Brown Invitational in Providence, R.I. Freshman Andy Rabens picked up the “C”-level singles title, defeating teammate Bo Wiegand, 6-3, 7-6 in the finals.

This weekend’s action and the recently completed Harvard Invitational let the Crimson prepare for its biggest fall event, the ECAC tournament.

“We are now ready to face whatever challenges the ECAC tournament may bring next weekend,” Lee said.

Sixteen top teams from all over the Northeast will converge on Cambridge from Friday through Monday, Oct. 5-8, to compete in the team tournament.