Irish roll after early loss
By RACHEL BIBER
Sports Writer
With the stability of the Notre Dame lineup in question, seniors Casey Smith and Javier Taborga teamed up in doubles at the Inter-collegiate Tennis Association All-American Champion-ships and proved that the Irish has the talent they have boasted all along.
After getting knocked off in the first round of the main draw, the 34th-ranked doubles pairing of Smith and Taborga came back to win four straight matches and upset three top-30 teams on their way to claiming the consolation title of the event.
"In doubles I think it was a really good tournament, the best one so far for me in my career," Taborga said. "I think both of us, Casey and I, really stepped up a level, and we are realizing that we can play at that level."
Smith and Taborga battled through two qualifying rounds just to gain entrance into the main draw of the tournament, before their first round run-in against Scott Lipsky and David Martin of Stanford, the second-ranked doubles team in the country and the top seed in the tournament.
The Irish did not succumb easily to Stanford, but were dropped to the consolation bracket after a tough 8-6 loss.
Following the loss to Stanford, Smith and Taborga regrouped to win two matches the following day and advance to the semifinals of the consolation portion of the doubles event.
In their first win, the Irish duo stunned 12th-ranked Olivier Levant and Eleazar Magallan of Florida 8-3, the team that won the ITA All-American doubles title last year.
Despite being teamed together for the first time since 1998, Smith and Taborga have come together to form a solid doubles pair.
"Doubles I was really happy with," Smith said. "I felt like Javier and I really played well. At the start of the year when we started playing together our communication wasn't all that great, and our movement wasn't exactly together, but I think we did a really good job of playing together as a team, and I think we definitely have established ourselves as a team that could do really well this year."
After their surprising defeat over Florida, Smith and Taborga set up a meeting with Yale's Steve Berke and Dustin West, and edged out the duo 9-8 (7-1) to advance to the semifinals of consolation.
Notre Dame's Smith and Taborga provided more thrills for the crowd in their semifinal matchup against 14th-ranked Michael Calkins and Amer Delic of Illinois. Although they found themselves in a 7-4 hole, the Irish regrouped and survived two match points before winning five straight games and taking the match 9-7.
Smith and Taborga finished off their winning ways with an 8-5 victory over 26th-ranked James Cameron and John Chesworth of Furman in the consolation final, capping a successful weekend for the Irish.
The final win bumped the pairing's record to 9-2 on the year, as they won 6 of 7 matches during the event.
The consolation title proves that practice has paid off for the Irish doubles team.
"Although we lost in the first round to the No.1 team, it was close, and we should have made it even a little bit closer," Taborga said. "But we beat six teams that are going to be ranked nationally this year, and especially beating Illinois gives more evidence that we've been working because they are supposedly the top team in the region, and we beat them playing well."
While Smith and Taborga fared well in doubles, the three Irish representatives in singles were knocked out early. Both Taborga and teammate Aaron Talarico were defeated in the qualifying rounds of the event, while Smith was stopped in the second round with a defeat to South Alabama's Kosta Zinchanka.
Smith, ranked 38th in the nation, had no troubles in the first round, topping Calle Hansen of Pepperdine 6-2, 6-4, before being eliminated by Zinchanka.
After having two set points with a 5-4 lead in the opening set against Zinchanka, Smith dropped nine straight games to lose the match 7-5, 6-0.
"I felt like I was striking the ball well, I just wasn't able to convert on a couple of key points in the match that I lost," Smith said. "I had double set point, and any time you have that you should probably win the set. The difference was he just played a couple points better than I did."
Although Smith suffered a second set meltdown, he feels his game is progressing, and hopes it will continue to improve.
"For the most part, I feel like my singles is coming along," Smith said. "It's not near where I want it to be, but its gradually getting better. Hopefully by this weekend and regionals it will be at a level I expect it to be."
All Sports Stories for Tuesday, October 16, 2001
