University of Louisville
Notre Dame
No. 23 Men's Tennis Beats Notre Dame 4-3
April 19, 2009 | Men's Tennis
April 19, 2009
TAMPA, Fla. - - Sophomore Alejandro Calligari's win over Dan Stahl clinched Louisville's 4-3 win over Notre Dame to give the No. 23 Cardinals a third place finish in the BIG EAST Conference Championship.
"We're very happy that we beat Notre Dame for the second time in eight days," said U of L head coach Rex Ecarma. "I have so much respect for the Notre Dame team and coaches and I feel it's an incredible achievement for us this week. We wanted to win Big East title, but this is a good way to end the tournament. It will help our seeding in NCAA tournament. There were several times in that match where Notre Dame took control, but we fought back and showed a lot of character. This team has always had a bounce-back ability. After a tough loss they would bounce back with a really good win. Yesterday's loss to DePaul almost put the team into a clinical depression, but this team has a lot of heart and character and responded to the challenge the coaching staff gave them. They're a lot of fun to coach.
The Cards opened the match by taking the doubles point. Alejandro Calligari and Robert Rotaru teamed to beat Dan Stahl and Santiago Montoya 8-3 at No. 3. Notre Dame's No. 31 ranked duo of Bret Helgeson and Tyler Davis topped No. 82 Viktor Maksimcuk and Simon Childs 8-4 at the top seed. The first point of the match came down to Austen Childs and Sumit-Prakash Gupta who edged Casey Watt and Stephen Havens 9-8 (7-2) at the No. 2 position.
In singles, Louisville quickly went ahead 3-0 with wins at Nos. 1 and 2. No. 31 Austen Childs defeated No. 29 Helgeson 6-1, 6-2 at the top seed and No. 79 Maksimcuk picked up a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Havens at the two-seed.
The Irish got on the scoreboard at the six-spot with Davis' 6-4, 6-3 win over Rotaru. Notre Dame picked up another win at No. 5 as David Anderson topped Andrew Carter 6-3, 7-6(5).
Louisville's Simon Childs and Notre Dame's Casey Watts split sets at the No. 3 position with Watts taking the first 6-3 and Childs posting a 6-4 win in the second, but Watts prevailed 6-3 in the third to tie the match at 3-3.
The match hinged on the No. 4 seed, where Calligari fell 6-4 in the first set, but rebounded to win the 7-5 and 6-1 to give the Cards a third place finish.
U of L (20-7) will await a bid to the NCAA tournament which will be announced following the completion of the conference tournaments.
No. 23 Louisville 4 - No. 28 Notre Dame 3
Doubles
1. #31 Helgeson/Davis (ND) d. #82 Maksimcuk/S. Childs (UL), 8-4
2. A. Childs/Sumit Gupta (UL) d. Havens/Watt (ND), 9-8 (2)*
3. Calligari/Rotaru (UL) d. Stahl/Montoya (ND), 8-3
Singles
1. #31 Austen Childs (UL) d. #29 Brett Helgeson (ND), 6-1, 6-2
2. #79 Viktor Maksimcuk (UL) d. Stephen Havens (ND), 6-3, 6-1
3. Casey Watt (ND) d. Simon Childs (UL), 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
4. Alejandro Calligari (UL) d. Dan Stahl (ND), 4-6, 7-5, 6-1*
5. David Anderson (ND) d. Andrew Carter (UL), 6-3, 7-6 (5)
6. Tyler Davis (ND) d. Robert Hall (UL), 6-4, 6-3
Players Mentioned
