Jan. 20, 2008
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The 40th-ranked Penn State men's tennis dropped its season opener at 12th-ranked Notre Dame, in the Eck Tennis Pavilion on Sunday afternoon.
Behind strong singles play at the top three spots in the order, and a doubles point, Notre Dame knocked off the Nittany Lions. Penn State falls to 0-1 on the year, while the Irish are now 1-0.
In doubles action, seniors Michael James (Clifton, Va.) and James Dwyer (Peachtree City, Ga.) were knocked off by the Notre Dame tandem of Andrew Roth and Stephen Havens by a score of 8-5 in the second doubles match. The two teams were on-serve until the sixth game of the match, when Roth and Havens secured a service break. After a hold, the Irish team took a commanding 5-2 lead. From there, the Notre Dame team stretched its lead to 7-4, and went on to the 8-5 victory.
That set up the No. 1 bout featuring junior Adam Slagter (Austin, Texas) and freshman Eddie Bourchier (Hobart, Australia) and Notre Dame's Sheeva Parbhu and Brett Helgeson. Trailing 3-1, Slagter and Bourchier put together a game of strong points to get back on-serve. The two teams remained on-serve until the 14th game of the pro-set, which is when Helgeson and Parbhu benefited from a great return game to not only seal the match, but the doubles point as well.
With the point already decided, junior Brendan Lynch (North Potomac, Md.) and sophomore Ryan Gormley (Las Vegas, Nev.) secured a victory for Penn State over Santiago Montoya and Tyler Davis. In a see-saw affair that saw both teams secure one break, Lynch and Gormley ousted the Irish duo by a score of 7-3 in a tiebreaker to take the match.
With Notre Dame leading 1-0, the matched turned to singles play. The Irish rode the momentum right into singles play. Helgeson jumped out to a 1-0 set lead against James at No. 1 after a dominating first, 6-1. Nonetheless, the Lion senior battled back. In a set filled with five different breaks, Helgeson, who is ranked 11th nationally, edged James 7-5. James led 4-2 early in the set, but adjustments from Helgeson proved to be too much for the Lion senior, as the Irish secured a 2-0 lead.
Lynch cut the Notre Dame lead to 2-1 with a straight sets victory over Havens at No.3. The Lion southpaw cruised to the first set, 6-3. In the second, he jumped out to a 5-1 lead on Havens and served to a 6-2 defeat.
Nonetheless, the Irish were not done, as Roth defeated Bourchier in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3, which gave Notre Dame a 3-1 lead in the match. Roth used a break in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead, but the Nittany Lion rookie fought back in his regular season debut. With the score knotted at five, Roth volleyed his way to a one lead, 7-5. Bourchier tried to rally in the second, but Roth slammed the door, 6-2, after taking a 3-0 lead.
The clinching match was at No. 2 with former All-American Parbhu knocking off Slagter in straight sets. Parbhu led 3-0 in the first but Slagter came back to set the score at 3-2. Nonetheless, the Irish veteran served his way to a 6-4 first set. Parbhu needed just one break in the second to secure the match for Notre Dame. The two battled, with Parbhu edging Slagter 6-4.
With the match decided, Gormley knocked off Anderson in three sets to give Penn State its second point. Gormley took the first, 6-4, but Anderson came back with a 6-3 victory in the second. In the super-tiebreaker, Gormley scored the point with a 10-8 victory.
Dan Stahl defeated Dwyer after trailing by a set. He rallied from 6-3 down, and scored two consecutive tiebreaker sets to secure the win for the Irish, 7-6, 1-0 (9).
Penn State will open its home season next Saturday with a doubleheader against Binghamton and St. Joe's at the Penn State Indoor Tennis Center.
Final Score: #12 Notre Dame 5 def. #40 Penn State 2
Doubles:
1. Sheeva Parbhu/Brett Helgeson (ND) def. Adam Slagter/Eddie Bourchier (PSU), 8-6
2. Andrew Roth/Stephen Havens (ND) def. Michael James/James Dwyer (PSU) 8-5
3. Brendan Lynch/Ryan Gormley (PSU) def. Santiago Montoya/Tyler Davis (ND), 8-7 (3)
Order of finish: 2, 1, 3
Singles:
1. #11 Brett Helgeson (ND) def. #35 Michael James (PSU), 6-1, 7-5
2. Sheeva Parbhu (ND) def. Adam Slagter (PSU), 6-4, 6-4
3. Andrew Roth (ND) def. Eddie Bourchier (PSU), 7-5, 6-2
4. Brendan Lynch (PSU) def. Stephen Havens (ND), 6-3, 6-2
5. Ryan Gormley (PSU) def. David Anderson (ND), 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 (8)
6. Dan Stahl (ND) def. James Dwyer (PSU), 3-6, 7-6 (3), 1-0 (9)
Order of finish: 1, 4, 3, 2, 5, 6