Men's Tennis Southern Conference

No. 64 Furman Drops 7-0 Decision to No. 7 Notre Dame (Jan. 19)

NOTRE DAME, IN -- The No. 64 ranked Furman Paladin men's tennis team suffered its first setback of the 2002 season with a 7-0 loss to the No. 7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Notre Dame on Saturday. The loss drops the Paladins to 1-1 on the season.

The Paladins drew first blood when John Chesworth and James Cameron, the 14th ranked doubles team in the nation, defeated the sixth-ranked team of Casey Smith and Javier Taborga, 8-3. The Irish quickly rebounded to capture the doubles point when Luis Haddock-Morales and Aaron Talarico downed Patrick Fillnow and Andrew Rogers 8-2 at No. 2 and Brent D'Amico and James Malhame defeated Furman's Peter Netzler and Chris Henderson at No. 3 doubles, 8-5.

In singles play, Brian Farrell gained a 6-2, 6-0 win at No. 6 over Ryan McCarthy. Matthew Scott then downed Furman's Patrick Gaughan 6-0, 6-3 at No. 5 before Taborga clinched the win by beating Furman's James Cameron 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) at No. 2 singles.

Talarico then beat Chris Henderson 6-4, 7-5 at No. 4, followed by a 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 Casey Smith victory against Furman's John Chesworth at No. 1. Haddock-Morales then completed the shutout with a 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5) win over Furman's Pat Fillnow at No. 3.

Furman will next face No. 45 Northwestern in Chicago on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.