May 16, 1998

1998 Division I Men’s Tennis Championship Quotes
Region IV Championship
University of Notre Dame
Courtney Tennis Center
May 15-17, 1998

Duke Head Coach Jay Lapidus

“Purdue is a good team. Things got a little hairy there at the end. There were a lot of tough matches. They fought really hard in singles.”

On winning the doubles point
“Purdue’s coach deserves credit. He kept his team in there after losing the double point. After we won the doubles point, I thought they might get a little down but they came out smoking in the first sets.”

On the singles play
“We played a little complacent in the first sets but we did a good job of hanging in there. There aren’t too many teams that can win four of six singles matches against us. We have a pretty strong singles lineup.”

On Sunday’s final
“Both Minnesota and Northwestern are very good teams. We are looking forward to just one more match.”

Purdue Head Coach Tim Madden

“In our mind it was not a decisive 4-0 match. All of the matches were really close. We are extremely proud of our year. Duke is one of the top powers in the country so we have nothing to be disappointed about.”

Minnesota Head Coach David Geatz

“We seem to do this every year. We have horrific losses during the season and play our best at the end of the year. Our guys are pretty eager and play best at the NCAAs.”

On the difference in the match
“Our number one guy (Tom Chicoine) is playing like a beast. Also at the start of the match we went up fast in doubles with a lot of intensity.”

On beating #2 seed Northwestern and #3 seed Notre Dame
“Northwestern and Notre Dame are very talented teams. If we played 10 times, we would win five of the matches. It is just the intensity and effort that our guys give. It comes down to competing hard.”

On reaching the final as the #6 seed
“We were lucky to win in 1996 as the sixth seed. Duke is a great team and we were lucky just to be in the tournament.”

Northwestern Head Coach Paul Torricelli

On NU’s loss to Minnesota:
“Minnesota out-played us. We didn’t play well enough to win. Plain and simple, we got beat.”

“Minnesota is a team that everyone hates to play at the end of the season. They got a lot of confidence yesterday (in their win over Notre Dame) and used it to their advantage against us.”

“We came out flat in doubles. You have to win the doubles point in this kind of match. Our guys didn’t step up today.”