Notre Dame senior captain Sheeva Parbhu fell in his opening round match Thursday 6-3, 6-0 to Bojan Szumanski of Texas Tech in the Intercollegiate Tennis Championships.
Parbhu is the lone Irish representative in the double-elimination Tulsa, Okla., tournament. He is guaranteed at least one more match.
"I am looking to continue to play at a high level," Parbhu said before the tournament. "I want to keep the good season going, and get some experience against some of the best players in the country."
Due to the NCAA's 25-tournament limit, Parbhu did not participate in last weekend's Tom Fallon Invitational so he could take part in the Intercollegiate Championships. The Irish dominated singles play without Parbhu, capturing a 26-14 victory.
"The athletes are only allowed to play 25 matches, and he would have had to miss some duel matches because of this rule and that he is going to Oklahoma this weekend," Irish coach Bobby Bayliss said earlier this week. "[The Fallon Invitational] gave us a chance to see some of the younger players. We also got to see [junior Brett] Helgeson play and he came up big."
Parbhu and Helgeson are co-number ones in the Irish lineup, Bayliss said.
The Irish will resume tournament play on Oct. 18 in the ITA Midwest Championships.
