March 18, 1999
MONTGOMERY, Ala. The 26th-ranked Notre Dame men’s tennis team blanked 58th-ranked North Carolina 4-0 on Thursday in the first round of the Blue-Gray National Classic in Montgomery, Ala. The Irish, now 11-4 after their seventh consecutive win, advance to the second round and will face 19th-ranked and fourth-seeded Texas A&M on Friday at 11:00 a.m. The Aggies beat Middle Tennessee 4-0 in the first round.
The Irish started the match with wins at Nos. 1 and 2 doubles to take the doubles point. Brian Patterson and Ryan Sachire beat David Cheatwood and Aron Breziner 8-2 at No. 1, and Trent Miller and Javier Taborga clinched point with an 8-4 win over Mike Grose and Ben Elix at No. 2 singles. The Irish then used wins at Nos. 1, 3 and 6 singles to advanced to the second round.
Second-ranked Sachire won his ninth-consecutive singles match with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Grose at No. 1 singles, while Andy Warford beat Elix 6-1, 6-4 at No. 6 singles. Matt Daly won his team-leading fourth clinching match of the year with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Cheatwood at No. 3 singles. Andrew Laflin, Brian Patterson and Casey Smith had their singles matches abandoned once Notre Dame had the match won.
Other in the first-round winners included top-seededIllinois 4-0 over William & Mary, second-seeded SMU 4-1 over Wake Forest, Virginia 4-1 over Alabama and Northwestern 4-3 over North Carolina State.
#26 NOTRE DAME 4, #58 NORTH CAROLINA 0
Singles
No. 1: #2 Ryan Sachire (ND) def. Mike Grose (UNC) 6-2, 6-4No. 2: Brian Patterson (ND) vs. Assaf Drofi (UNC) 6-4, 5-6, abandonedNo. 3: Matt Daly (ND) def. David Cheatwood (UNC) 6-3, 6-4No. 4: Andrew Laflin (ND) vs. Aron Breziner (UNC) 3-6, 2-2, abandonedNo. 5: Casey Smith (ND) vs. Bjorn Rencken (UNC) 6-4, 5-6, abandonedNo. 6: Andy Warford (ND) def. Ben Elix (UNC) 6-1, 6-4
Doubles
No. 1: Patterson/Sachire (ND) def. Brezinger/Cheatwood (UNC) 8-2No. 2: Trent Miller/Javier Taborga (ND) def. Elix/Grose (UNC) 8-4 No. 3: Aaron Talarico/Warford (ND) vs. Drofi/Rencken (UNC) 2-1, abandoned