travel to LaJolla
By JOE LINDSLEY
Sports Writer
The Notre Dame men's tennis team is leaving behind South Bend this weekend as they travel to sunny LaJolla, Ca. for the Pacific Coast Doubles tournament.
This annual event does not actually count towards Notre Dame's record as it is not a collegiate tournament. Those invited to participate in the tournament include many of the top-ranked tennis programs in the nation, as well as ranked professional players.
The outcome of this weekend's play will not affect Notre Dame's current standing as the seventh ranked team in the nation. According to senior Javier Taborga, this tournament is an opportunity to play some of the best players in the country — collegiate and professional.
Many teams do not send their top players, though. Taborga, along with senior Casey Smith, will not be participating this year because head tennis coach Bob Bayliss wants to ensure that they are ready for next week's critical dual match at Illinois. Taborga and Smith are seventh in the national doubles rankings.
"A lot of tennis professionals go [to the Pacific Coast Doubles] and just enjoy playing with their old partners. It's always really high level," said Taborga, who has participated in previous years. "I think it's a great experience because it's one of the nicest clubs that I've been to in my life. It's just off the beach, and the courts are on the beach. There are a lot of people that come to watch you play."
"It's one of the best experiences I've had at Notre Dame," he added.
The tournament organizers even pay all the travel expenses of those invited, and there is prize money available for the professionals who participate.
"That's why very good players go and play, because they have all the expenses covered," Taborga said. "They just enjoy a weekend in LaJolla, and I don't think anyone would want to turn that down."
Some of the teams sending players to LaJolla include top-ranked programs such as Stanford, UCLA and USC.
The Irish are more concerned though about their indoor dual match verse Illinois next Thursday, as wells as their first outdoor tournament of the spring, the Blue-Gray National Tennis Classic, which starts March 14.
"Beating Illinois would be a huge step towards our goal of winning the national championship," said Taborga, who is currently rated the 23rd best singles player in the country.
A win over Illinois could help to secure home court advantage for Notre Dame in the NCAA tournament, and that in turn could help propel the Irish towards the national championship.
"Freshman and sophomore years, we all talked about [winning the championship], but it wasn't really feasible. Last year we had our chances, but we still were a really young team. We didn't realize how close we were," Taborga said.
This year is different though, he feels.
"[Now] we've played against the best teams, we've been able to compete against them . . . so we know that we are at that level. Right now I think that we all really believe in the possibility of winning a national championship," he said.
Additionally, Taborga believes Notre Dame, 11-3 after an indoor win over Miami on Feb. 24, will be an even more formidable force once it starts playing outside.
"This year we all have been working hard over the summer and got better outdoors. I think it's going to be a big surprise when many coaches see us play outdoors, because they are expecting us to be a little weaker than when we are indoors. From top to bottom, I think we will be a lot better outdoors," he said.
Notre Dame will be able to see how it fares outdoors this weekend before the real test begins at the Blue-Gray Classic — a tournament which will count towards Notre Dame's standing.
All Sports Stories for Friday, March 1, 2002
