Men's Tennis Completes Day One at Notre Dame
10/3/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
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University of Alabama freshman men's tennis players Mike Green and Joseph Jung completed the first day of the Tom Fallon Invitational in South Bend, Ind. Friday, winning two of three matches.
Jung defeated Notre Dame's Stephen Bass 7-5, 6-2 in singles while Green lost to Ryan Keckley 7-6, 6-3. Jung and Green teamed to beat Notre Dame's Hatten and Paul Hidaka, 8-4
"Jung played well," Crimson Tide head coach Billy Pate said. "It's good experience he's getting. We are playing the top two players from Notre Dame tomorrow so it will be a tough task and a good challenge."
The participation of the Crimson Tide is particularly notable since it marks the return of former Irish assistant coach Billy Pate, who left Notre Dame prior to last season to become the head coach at Alabama. Pate's Tide was 19-10 last season and finished 15th in the nation. It will be his first competitive trip back to the campus where he coached from 2000-02, helping the Irish to a 40-14 (.741) record and earning the National Assistant Coach of the Year award in his final season.
Of the seven teams participating in this year's TFI, five finished last season ranked among the top 60 teams in the nation. In all, the field consists of Alabama, Army, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, and Notre Dame. The three Big Ten schools also are on the Irish dual-match schedule (2/8 vs. Purdue, 3/2 vs. Michigan State, 3/23 at Michigan) and each are traditional participants in the Tom Fallon. Maryland is in the field for the second straight season, while Army and Alabama are new to the TFI.
