Men's Tennis Strong in Fall Debut
Sept. 18, 2009
Olympia Fields, Ill… The University of Miami men’s tennis team posted a strong opening day at the University of Illinois’ Olympia Fields Country Club (OFCC) Fighting Illini Invitational on Friday, going a perfect 4-0 in singles competition and 3-1 in doubles play.
“Today was a great start for us,” said assistant coach C.J. Weber. “But the matches are only going to get tougher tomorrow. We fought well today, so hopefully we can sustain this momentum and energy level all weekend.”
The Hurricanes put together a perfect 4-0 mark in singles play on the clay courts versus a challenging field composed of five NCAA Tournament teams – including three Sweet Sixteen teams in Miami, Florida State and the host Illini.
All-American junior Carl Sundberg, ranked 79th in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) preseason poll, cruised past Notre Dame’s 98th-ranked Stephen Havens, 6-2, 6-4. Miami’s David Simon and Hector Nieto also knocked off Notre Dame players in the first competition of the fall tournament season. Simon defeated Michael Moore, 6-1, 6-4, while Nieto battled back from a close first set to take down Takashi Yoshii, 7-6, 6-3.
Miami closed day one with a victory by junior Christian Blöcker over Northwestern’s Joshua Graves, 7-6 (6), 6-3.
The long day of competition opened with doubles play. The Hurricanes switched partners between rounds and Simon and Nieto each finished the morning with unblemished 2-0 records.
The Hurricanes return to singles competition at the Olympia Fields Country Club (OFCC) Fighting Illini Invitational on Sat., Sept. 19, at 9 a.m.
Olympia Fields Fighting Illini Invitational, Day One
Singles
#79 Carl Sundberg (Miami) def. #98 Stephen Havens (Notre Dame) 6-2, 6-4
David Simon (Miami) def. Michael Moore (Notre Dame) 6-1, 6-4
Hector Nieto (Miami) def. Takashi Yoshii (Notre Dame) 7-6, 6-3
Christian Blöcker (Miami) def. Joshua Graves (Northwestern) 7-6, 6-3
Doubles
David Simon/Hector Nieto (Miami) def. David Anderson/Blas Moros (Notre Dame) 8-4
David Simon/Carl Sundberg (Miami) def. Joshua Graves/Tobias Reitz (Northwestern) 8-3
Christian Blöcker/Hector Nieto (Miami) def. Spencer Talmadge/Matt Johnson (Notre Dame) 8-4
Tyler Davis/Casey Watt (Notre Dame) def. Christian Blöcker/Carl Sundberg (Miami) 9-8
