Hurricanes Fall to Notre Dame, 4-1 in BIG EAST Tennis Championships Semi-Finals
April 30, 2004
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The No. 3 seeded University of Miami men’s tennis team couldn’t overcome No. 2 seed Notre Dame Friday afternoon at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center, falling to the Fighting Irish, 4-1 in the semi-finals of the 2004 BIG EAST Tennis Championships.
Friday’s match-up marked the first time the two conference rivals had not met in the championship match since Notre Dame joined the BIG EAST in 1996.
The Hurricanes (13-8) fell early on to ND (14-8), dropping the doubles point with a loss by Josh Cohen (Weston, Fla.) and P.J. Passalacqua (Naples, Fla.) to Ryan Keckley and Stephan Bass, 8-4 at No. 3 followed by a win by Notre Dame’s Brent D’Amico and Eric Langenkamp over UM teammates John Hoyes (Miami, Fla.) and Jeremiah Fuller (Emmaus, Pa.), 8-4 at No. 2.
Trailing 1-0 in the overall match score, Miami’s Tim Krebs (Eschborn, Germany) couldn’t fight through an injury at No. 6 singles, falling to Langenkamp, 6-0, 6-1.
Notre Dame’s Barry King would bring the Fighting Irish to within one point of the victory with a win at No. 5 over Fuller, 6-2, 6-0 before the Hurricanes’ Colin Purcell put Miami on the board for the first time in the afternoon, upending D’Amico in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4 to bring the overall match score to 3-1.
With the Hurricanes’ 12th consecutive title birth on the line, Miami’s Cohen pulled out a win over Luis Haddock, 6-4 in the first set at No. 1 singles. Haddock responded in the second set, taking Cohen 6-3 and moved on to win the third set, 6-2 to clinch the Notre Dame win.
Miami will return for Saturday’s consolation match with St. John’s slated for noon at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center. Admission is free.
No. 2 Notre Dame 4, No. 3 Miami 1
The BIG EAST Championships – Semi-finals
April 30, 2004
Coral Gables, Fla.
Singles
1. Luis Haddock (ND) def. Josh Cohen (UM), 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
2. Eric Hechtman (UM) vs. Matt Scott (ND), 6-7 (2), 4-1 (DNF)
3. John Hoyes (UM) vs. Stephan Bass (ND), 3-6, 6-3, 0-3 (DNF)
4. Colin Purcell (UM) def. Brent D’Amico (ND), 6-4, 6-4
5. Barry King (ND) def. Jeremiah Fuller (UM), 6-2, 6-0
6. Eric Langenkamp (ND) def. Tim Krebs (UM), 6-0, 6-1
Order of finish: 6, 5, 4, 1
Doubles
1. Eric Hechtman/Colin Purcell (UM) vs. Luis Haddock/Matt Scott (ND), 6-7 (DNF)
2. Brent D’Amico/Eric Langenkamp (ND) def. John Hoyes/Jeremiah Fuller (UM), 8-4
3. Ryan Keckley/Stephan Bass (ND) def. Josh Cohen/P.J. Passalacqua (UM), 8-4
Order of finish: 3, 2
