The Irish continued their fall success this weekend at the Harvard Invitational in Cambridge, Mass. The Irish set the tone from the first day of the tournament, winning six of their nine matches against Minnesota.
Seniors Stephen Havens and Tyler Davis both earned wins on day one of the tournament over Sebastian Gallego and Julian Dehn respectively.
Freshman Billy Pecor, junior Niall Fitzgerald and sophomores Michael Moore and Spencer Talmadge all pulled out wins for the Irish to round out the six on day one.
"Billy beat a strong Indian player with a great deal of international experience from Alabama," Bayliss said. "Billy can really hit through the court and needs to harness some of his raw power more selectively."
On day two, the Irish finished with a record of 15-2 with six players undefeated in singles heading into the final day of the tournament.
Havens, Davis, Fitzgerald, Moore, Talmadge and Pecor all finished day two undefeated and looked to continue their dominance on day three.
The Irish also picked up six doubles victories on the day with Havens and Davis teaming up to defeat Christo Schultz and Johnathan Pearlman of Harvard 9-8.
Pecor and freshman Greg Andrews were able to pick up an 8-0 win over a duo from South Carolina.
"Certainly doubles needs to become a strength for us this year, and I saw some encouraging things last weekend," Bayliss said. "Davis-Havens looked great, as did Fitzgerald-Talmadge. Several of the freshmen can contribute here as well, but we need to be able to cut off more balls around the net and finish points there. We need to be six balls tough from two-back and really establish a presence on the doubles court. There could be some new combinations this year and we have all fall to figure it out."
On day three the Irish pulled out even more victories, culminating in Havens finishing the tournament undefeated in both singles and doubles play along with Davis. Havens earnined the Dale Junta '58 Award for his success in the tournament.
Andrews finished with a 2-1 record, earning the Corey Winn Freshman to Watch Award for the tournament.
The Irish totaled a 23-4 singles record in the tournament, with Fitzgerald, Pecor, Anderson and Moore teaming up with Havens to finish with undefeated records.
Notre Dame also came away with six of nine victories in doubles, with junior Samuel Keeton and Moore also combining for an undefeated doubles record for the weekend.
The Irish will continue their season when they send sophomore Blas Moros, junior Casey Watt and senior Daniel Stahl to the ITA All-American event in Tulsa, Okla., which begins Monday.
