University of Illinois
Notre Dame
Fighting Irish Come From Behind to Stun Illini, 5-2
April 1, 2007 | Men's Tennis
April 1, 2007
NOTRE DAME,
"I give a lot of credit to Notre Dame today, who came out tough in singles after being down in doubles," head coach Brad Dancer said. "They played really strong in all of their singles matches. On the other-hand, I felt that we put ourselves in position to win some matches in singles, but we didn't do a good job of finishing. We didn't seize the match after taking the first set and were not able to take control once we got ahead to close out the match."
The defending national champion duo of juniors Kevin Anderson and Ryan Rowe (ILL) made quick work of the seventh-ranked tandem from Notre Dame, Ryan Keckley and Sheeva Parbhu, 8-4, to open doubles action. Senior GD Jones and sophomore Marc Spicijaric wrapped up the point for
Heading into singles with a 1-0 lead and the momentum behind them,
From there, the tides continued to turn as the Fighting Irish went on to claim eight of the remaining 10 sets en route to the dual victory.
No. 12 Rowe clinched the sole singles win for Illinois in the loss on court three, dropping the opening set to No. 103 Helgeson , 6-4, before taking control f the match to win the final two sets by scores of 6-4, 7-5.
Notre Dame clinched the dual victory when Barry King (ND) rebounded after losing the first set to Spicijaric (Ill) 7-6(5), before going on to relinquish only three more games to the Illini sophomore in the final two sets, 6-1, 6-2.
TENNIS MATCH RESULTS
NOTRE DAME, IND.
#5 NOTRE DAME 5, #8
Singles competition
1. #8 Stephen Bass (ND) def. #6 Kevin Anderson (
2. #54 Sheeva Parbhu (ND) def. GD Jones (
3. #12 Ryan Rowe (ILL) def. #103 Brett Helgeson (ND) 4-6, 6-4, 7-5
4. Barry King (ND) def. Marc Spicijaric (
5. Ryan Keckley (ND) def. Brandon Davis (ILL) 6-4, 6-4
6. Andrew Roth (ND) def. Jordan Knue (ILL) 6-1, 6-2
Doubles competition
1. Kevin Anderson/Ryan Rowe (ILL) def. #7 Ryan Keckley/Sheeva Parbhu (ND) 8-4
2. Marc Spicijaric/GD Jones (
3. Stephen Bass/Andrew Roth (ND) def. Brandon Davis/Jordan Knue (ILL) 8-7 (7-3)
Match Notes:
Order of finish: Doubles (1, 2, 3); Singles (6, 5, 2, 4, 1, 3)
