April 9, 1999
- Patterson wins 11 straight singles match
- Sachire ranked in singles and doubles
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The 33rd-ranked Notre Dame men’s tennis team won a pair of regional matches last week with wins over 47th-ranked Purdue and Ball State. The Irish close the 77th regular season in the history of Notre Dame men’s tennis at home on Wed., April 14 against 43rd-ranked Michigan at 3:00 p.m.
THIS WEEK FOR THE IRISH: Notre Dame and Michigan will meet the 58th time on Wed., April 14, at 3:00 p.m. The Wolverines lead the all-time series 39-18 but the Irish have beaten Michigan in nine of the 10 meetings in the ’90s and have won five straight against the Wolverines at home.
Michigan currently is ranked 43rd in the country and sports a 12-1 record prior to matches at Indiana and Purdue this weekend, before traveling to Notre Dame. Legendary Wolverine head coach Brian Eisner is in his last year at Michigan after serving as head coach for 30 years. Matt Wright leads the Wolverines with a 14-8 record and a 7-5 mark at No. 1 singles. Ben Cox is 19-4 and 12-0 in dual matches.
PATTERSON TOPS AT NO. 2 IN REGION: Senior captain Brian Patterson (Falmouth, Maine), who has won 11 consecutive singles matches, has won every No. 2 dual match this season against Region IV opponents. He has cruised to an 11-0 record against other Midwest opponents in ’99, dropping just two sets against regional opponents, including a straight-set win over Illinois’ 55th-ranked Cary Franklin. Patterson has not lost a singles match since falling 7-5, 2-6, 7-5 to Duke’s Pedro Escudero on Feb. 13. Since that lost, Patterson has won 11 consecutive matches to improve his record to 17-6 and 15-2 in 1999 dual matches. His only other dual match loss in 1999 came in three sets at the hands Texas’ Brandon Hawk, currently ranked 42nd.
IRISH PICK UP WINS OVER PURDUE, BALL STATE: Notre Dame rallied from a 3-0 deficit to beat 47th-ranked Purdue 4-3 on Mon., April 5, at the Purdue Varsity Courts. After losing the doubles point and the first two singles matches, the Irish won four straight three-set matches, including a sweep of the top three singles spots to beat the Boilermakers for the ninth straight time. Purdue won the doubles points to lead 1-0 with wins at Nos. 2 and 3 doubles. The Boilers then used wins at Nos. 4 and 5 singles to build a 3-0 lead, needing just one win in the final four matches to beat Notre Dame for the first time since 1989. Patterson began the comeback as he held off Jamie Gordon 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 at No. 2 singles for his 10th consecutive singles win. Junior All-American and second-ranked Ryan Sachire (Canfield, Ohio) cut the lead to 3-2 with a 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-4 win over Derek Myers at No. 1 singles. Sophomore Matt Daly (Wellesley, Mass.) knotted the match by beating Purdue’s 61st-ranked Jason Marshall 7-6 (8), 4-6, 6-1 at No. 3 singles for his first win over a ranked opponent this year. Irish senior Andy Warford (Bismarck, N.D.) then completed Notre Dame’s comeback with a dramatic 6-1, 5-7, 7-6 (4) victory over Derek Miller at No. 6 singles in the last match on the court to win the clinching match for the Irish for the third time this season.
The Irish won the doubles point and won the first five singles matches for a 6-1 win over visiting Ball State on Wednesday at the Courtney Tennis Center. Sachire clinched the match with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Juan Fernandez at No. 1 singles. The Irish claimed the doubles point to start the match with wins at Nos. 1 and 3 doubles. The freshman team of Casey Smith (Leawood, Kan.) and Aaron Talarico (Laguna Beach, Calif.) beat Ryan Baxter and Nick Vizzone 8-1 at No. 3 doubles. The 47th-ranked duo of Patterson and Sachire used a break of serve in the final game to beat Rafael Domenech and Fernandez 8-6 at No. 1 doubles to clinch the point. Notre Dame used three straight-sets singles win to clinch their 11th straight win over Ball State. Freshman Javier Taborga (La Paz, Bolivia) beat Domenech 6-0, 6-2 at No. 6 singles, while Smith won 6-1, 6-2 over Vizzone at No. 5 singles. Sachire then sealed the win with his 33rd singles win of the season. Patterson won his 11th consecutive match by beating Baxter 6-4, 6-2 at No. 2 singles. Freshman Andrew Laflin (Tampa, Fla.) won the final point for the Irish with his 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 win over Andy Pressel at No. 4 singles.
SACHIRE SOLID AT NO. 2 RANKING: Ryan Sachire remains second in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings, released by the ITA on April 6, the fourth consecutive ranking he has held the No. 2 spot behind Harvard’s James Blake. Sachire’s No. 2 spot marks the highest ranking for an Irish singles player since David DiLucia finished the 1992 regular season as the No. 1 player in the country. Sachire, who is 33-7 in singles and 19-3 in dual matches in ’99, entered the 1998 fall season ranked No. 8 in the preseason but vaulted five spots to three based on his fall performance. His jump from three to two came in the Feb. 16 ranking after winning the Rolex National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships singles consolation. Since taking over the No. 2 spot behind Harvard’s James Blake, Sachire has compiled a 12-2 record.
DOUBLES IN THE RANKINGS: Notre Dame’s No. 1 doubles team of Brian Patterson and Ryan Sachire reentered the Intercollegiate Tennis Association national rankings on March 22 at No. 43 and stand 47th in the latest poll released on April 6. The pair has compiled a 12-7 record in the spring and a 19-9 overall record with two wins against ranked teams. Patterson and Sachire were ranked 28th in the preseason but played in just one tournament in the fall and fell out of the rankings.
PATTERSON JOINS RARE 80-80 CLUB: Brian Patterson’s win with Ryan Sachire over Purdue’s Laith Al-Agba and Derek Myers at No. 1 doubles marked his 80th career doubles victory which, along with his 82-38 career singles record, makes him the only Notre Dame player under 12-year head coach Bob Bayliss to win at least 80 singles and 80 doubles matches. His doubles wins are second only to his former three-year doubles partner Jakub Pietrowski, who won 95 doubles matches at Notre Dame before graduating in 1998. A two-time NCAA doubles participant with Pietrowski, Patterson’s doubles record stands at 81-42.
SACHIRE REACHES CENTURY MARK: Ryan Sachire’s 6-3, 6-3 win over Miami’s Jamin Thompson on March 11 marked his 100th career singles win at Notre Dame, becoming the first Irish junior to reach 100 wins since former All-American and No. 1 nationally-ranked collegiate singles player David DiLucia reached the century mark as a junior in 1991. DiLucia ended his career by leading the Irish to the 1992 NCAA championship title match with a 146-33 career record. Sachire currently has a 104-30 (.773) record and a 33-7 record in 1999.
BAYLISS REACHES 500TH WIN: Irish head coach Bob Bayliss became the 11th active men’s tennis coach to record his 500th career win with a 7-0 win over Northwestern on Feb. 20. Bayliss is in his 12th year as head coach of the Irish, compiling a 227-102 (.690) record at Notre Dame and a career mark of 509-196 (.722), the sixth-best winning percentage among active men’s coaches. He has guided the Irish to NCAA championship appearances in each of the last eight years, including an NCAA second-place finish in 1992. The Richmond, Va., native, and 1966 graduate of Richmond has been named ITA national coach of the year in 1992 and ITA regional coach of the year three times. The five-time conference coach of year has coached his players to 12 All-America honors in his 11 years at Notre Dame, with junior Ryan Sachire his latest All-American.
DALY ON A ROLL: Sophomore Matt Daly has won eight out of his last 12 matches after starting off 1999 with a 3-4 record. Of the 11 matches Daly has won in ’99, four have clinched wins for the Irish. His most recent win came against Purdue’s 61st-ranked Jason Marshall 7-6 (8), 4-6, 6-1 at No. 3 singles when he knotted the match at 3-3 after the Irish trailed 3-0. Daly sports a 22-10 overall record after entering the spring dual match season with an 11-2 record in the fall, with one of the losses coming to teammate Casey Smith.
SACHIRE CONTINUES DUAL MATCH SUCCESS: Ryan Sachire entered his junior year with a 37-10 dual match record in his first two years and has improved that mark to 56-13 with his 19-3 mark this year. Three of his wins have come against top 10 players. His overall singles record is 33-7 this year with 17 wins against ranked opponents.
IRISH FACE TOUGH SLATE: The Irish have played 14 matches against ranked teams and three matches against top 10 teams already in 1999. In all, Notre Dame will play at least 15 matches against ranked teams in 1999, including seven ranked teams at home.
SACHIRE WINS ROLEX CONSOLATION SINGLES: Ryan Sachire rallied from a first-round loss to win the singles consolation draw at the Rolex National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, the third leg of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association collegiate grand slam. After Virginia Tech’s 23rd-ranked Adam Marchetti bounced the third-seeded Sachire 7-5, 6-3 in the first round, Sachire won four straight matches to win the consolation singles.
Sachire’s latest grand slam success comes after he advanced to the final of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-American Championships Oct. 15-18, 1998, in Austin, Texas, the second of the four ITA collegiate grand slam events, before losing 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) to Harvard’s James Blake, currently the No. 1 player in the country. Sachire became just the second Notre Dame men’s tennis player to reach the final of a collegiate grand slam, joining David DiLucia in 1992.
Irish Singles Wins
Ryan Sachire, currently ranked second in the country in singles, recently moved into fifth place in singles wins among Notre Dame players under current Irish head coach Bob Bayliss (1988-99). Here is where Sachire compares to other Bayliss-coached Notre Dame players:
Name Years Singles1. David DiLucia 1989-92 146-332. Andy Zurcher 1990-94 128-603. Chuck Coleman 1990-93 123-584. Mark Schmidt 1990-93 113-445. Ryan Sachire 1996-99 104-30
Intercollegiate Tennis Rankings
Team Release: April 6, 1999This Last School Avg.Rank Rank1. 1. UCLA 53.972. 2. Illinois * 45.143. 7. Duke * 43.334. 14. Mississippi 40.005. 6. Texas * 37.166. 5. SMU 36.897. 13. Georgia 35.078. 3. Baylor 33.659. 4. Stanford 31.1310. 8. Florida 30.9111. 10. USC 29.4412. 20. Tennessee 27.1413. 32. Kentucky * 22.9114. 12. Arizona State 21.8415. 15. Washington 21.8016. 19. TCU 21.7417. 17. Pepperdine 20.0018. 9. Alabama 19.4219. 11. South Carolina 18.3320. 28. LSU 18.0021. 21. Texas A&M * 15.9722. 18. Mississippi State 15.9323. 16. Harvard 14.9524. 30. Clemson 14.7025. 37. Virginia 14.6333. 26. Notre Dame 9.80 * indicates Notre Dame opponents Other Notre Dame opponents26. 29. Tulane 14.0234. 52. Northwestern 9.79T38. 54. Boise State 9.24T38. 36. Minnesota 9.2441. 47. Purdue 8.7843. 39. Michigan 8.4444. 44. Miami (Fla.) 8.2847. 49. William & Mary 7.3749. 58. Indiana 7.0974. 75. North Carolina 3.75
Singles Release: April 6, 1999This Last Name SchoolRank Rank1. 1. James Blake Harvard2. 2. Ryan Sachire Notre Dame3. 5. Jeff Morrison Florida4. 3. Ryan Wolters Stanford5. 7. Francisco Rodriguez Alabama6. 12. Ignacio Hirigoyen SMU7. 11. Hirsham Hemeda Georgia8. 9. Oliver Freelove Illinois9. 4. Robert Kendrick Washington10. 6. Esteban Carril TCU11. 8. Jean-Noel Grinda UCLA12. 10. Peter Handoyo Tennessee13. 17. Robert Samuelsson Tulane14. 13. Aaron Marchetti Virginia Tech15. 23. Efe Ustundag Rice16. 14. Daniel Andersson VCU17. 18. Brian Vahaly Virignia18. 21. Luis Uribe Kansas19. 15. KJ Hippensteel Stanford20. 20. Jack Brasington Texas