February 20, 1999

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The 24th-ranked Notre Dame mens tennis team blanked 37th-ranked Northwestern 7-0 on Saturday at the Eck Tennis Pavilion as Irish head coach Bob Bayliss won his 500th career match as a head coach. Notre Dame won two of three doubles matches and dropped just one set in six singles match to beat Northwestern, which had beaten the Irish 5-2 a year ago. Notre Dame improves to 4-3 while Northwestern falls to 2-4.

Bayliss entered the 1999 dual-match season with a 496-189 record in 29 years and a 214-95 mark in 11 previous seasons at Notre Dame. After the Irish beat Wisconsin on Jan. 26, Notre Dame lost consecutive 4-3 matches to Texas and Kentucky and lost 7-0 to Duke before beating Northwestern for Bayliss 500th win. With a career record of 500-192, Bayliss becomes the 22nd coach in collegiate mens tennis history win at least 500 matches during a career.

Juniors Matt Horsley and Trent Miller won 8-3 at No. 2 doubles and sophomore Matt Daly and freshman Casey Smith won at No. 3 doubles to put the Irish ahead 1-0 after doubles. Northwesterns Martin Bengtsson and Doug Bohaboy won the final five games of the set to beat senior Brian Patterson and junior Ryan Sachire 8-4 at No. 1 doubles.

Smith rolled past Joost Hol at No. 5 singles 6-1, 6-1 for the second Notre Dame point. Freshman Andrew Laflin, playing in his first dual match in three weeks, won 6-3, 6-0 at No. 6 singles over Jamie Sahara. The second-ranked Sachire then clinched the win with a 6-4, 7-5 win at No. 1 singles over 46th-ranked Bohaboy. Daly and Patterson added straight set wins at Nos. 3 and 2 singles, while senior Andy Warford hung on for a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win over Derrick Nguyen at No. 4 singles in the final match.

Notre Dame returns to the court on Sun., Feb. 21, to take on 23rd-ranked Minnesota at the Eck Tennis Pavilion at 12:00 p.m.

#23 NOTRE DAME 7, #37 NORTHWESTERN 0
Singles
No. 1: #3 Ryan Sachire (ND) def. #46 Doug Bohaboy (NU) 6-4, 7-5
No. 2: Brian Patterson (ND) def. Martin Bengtsson (NU) 7-6 (5), 6-3
No. 3: Matt Daly (ND) def. Brad Erickson (NU) 7-5, 6-2
No. 4: Andy Warford (ND) def. Derrick Nguyen (NU) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
No. 5: Casey Smith (ND) def. Joost Hol (NU) 6-1, 6-1
No. 6: Andrew Laflin (ND) def. Jamie Sahara (NU) 6-3, 6-0

Doubles
No. 1: Bengtsson/Bohaboy (NU) def. Patterson/Sachire (ND) 8-4
No. 2: Matt Horsley/Trent Miller (ND) def. Erickson/Nguyen (NU) 8-3
No. 3: Daly/Smith (ND) def. Hol/Sahara (NU) 8-3