Men's Tennis Continues Six-Match Homestand

Feb. 16, 2000

PDF Formatted Notes

The 29th-ranked Notre Dame men’s tennis team continues its six-match homestand by welcoming Wisconsin and 32nd-ranked Miami (Fla.) to the Eck Tennis Pavilion. The Irish are coming off a pair of wins at home against Kentucky and Ohio State.

THIS WEEK FOR THE IRISH
Notre Dame welcomes Wisconsin to the Eck Tennis Pavilion on Fri., Feb. 18, at 4:00 p.m. The Badgers enter the week with a 2-1 record following a 4-3 loss to DePaul and are led by senior David Chang and sophomore Scott Rutherford, who are 42nd in doubles. The Irish have won eight straight meetings in the series, which stands 38-16 in Notre Dame’s favor.

The Irish will face BIG EAST rival Miami on Sun., Feb. 20, at 12:00 p.m. The Hurricanes enter the week with a 5-0 record and will meet Wisconsin on Saturday at the Eck Tennis Pavilion before playing Notre Dame. Sophomore Tomas Smid is ranked 88th in singles for the Hurricanes. Miami leads the all-time series 6-5, but Notre Dame claimed a memorable 4-3 win in the BIG EAST championship in the last meeting. Playing without injured No. 1 doubles and No. 2 singles player Brian Patterson, the Irish rallied from 2-3 for a 4-3 win after three-set victories from then-freshmen Javier Taborga (La Paz, Bolivia) and Casey Smith (Leawood, Kan.).

SACHIRE REACHES ROLEX QUARTERS
After opening-round losses in his first three appearances, senior Ryan Sachire reached the quarterfinals of the Rolex National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships in his final showing at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association grand slam event. He eliminated sixth-seeded and eighth-ranked Oskar Johansson of Arkansas in the first round 6-7 (2), 6-3, 7-6 (4) and then beat LSU’s 13th-ranked Tom Hand 6-3, 6-4. Top-seeded and eventual champion Daniel Andersson of VCU ended Sachire’s run 6-3, 6-4. With that quarterfinal finish, the Irish captain now has reached at least the quarterfinals in three of the four ITA grand slams. In his first match following the Rolex National Intercollegiates Sachire beat a top 10 opponent for the second time in five days with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Kentucky’s ninth-ranked Carlos Drada, also a quarterfinalist at the Rolex National Intercollegiates. Sachire’s singles record stands at 18-6 this season and 126-39 entering the week, while his record in dual singles matches is 65-15. He has a 5-0 record in three-set matches this year and a 15-0 mark when winning the first set.

TALARICO ON A TEAR
Sophomore Aaron Talarico continues his solid play in his first full season in the singles lineup. Talarico has dropped just 11 games in his last three singles matches, playing at No. 4 singles. He played a large role in helping Notre Dame upset Kentucky by giving the Irish a 2-0 lead with his 6-0, 6-1 win over Edo Bawano. His win over Vincent Ng gave the Irish a 3-2 lead in the 4-3 win over Ohio State. In doubles with Javier Taborga, the 53rd-ranked duo has a 9-5 record, including a 3-0 mark against ranked teams with wins over New Mexico’s 14th-ranked Matt Amgwerd and Nic Dubey and Ohio State’s 36th-ranked Andrew Carlson and Chris Porter. Of their five losses, two have come in tiebreakers including a 12-10 tiebreaker loss to USC’s Moore and Rainey. Taborga and Talarico played just six matches together as freshmen and went 3-3, with their first match a win over Baylor’s Hodge and Jooste.

RECAPPING THE WEEK
The Irish beat a team ranked 22 spots higher thanks to a strong performance from its singles lineup after winning the doubles point against 18th-ranked Kentucky. Notre Dame won the doubles point and won three straight-sets singles matches to beat the Wildcats. Freshman Brian Farrell (Lilburn, Ga.), playing in just his second dual match, defeated sophomore Reven Stephens 6-2, 7-6 (7-2) at No. 6 singles to clinch the win. Sophomores James Malhame (Douglaston, N.Y.) and Casey Smith (Leawood, Kan.) clinched the doubles point for Notre Dame with an 8-5 win over Edo Bawono and Johan Grunditz at No. 3 doubles. Seniors Ryan Sachire (Canfield, Ohio) and Trent Miller (San Diego, Calif.) beat Carlos Drada and Stephens 8-2 at No. 2 doubles for the first Irish win. Sophomore Aaron Talarico (Laguna Beach, Calif.) gave this Irish a 2-0 lead with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Bawono at No. 4 singles. Sachire then won a battle of top-20 singles players when he defeated ninth-ranked Drada 6-1, 6-3. Once the Irish had clinched their first win over an SEC team since 1996 with a 4-0 lead, the remaining singles matches played third set tiebreakers to decide the outcome. Johann Grunditz defeated sophomore Javier Taborga 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) at No. 3 singles for Kentucky’s first point. Gustav Pousette rallied for a 6-7 (8-6), 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) over sophomore Andrew Laflin (Tampa, Fla.) at No. 5 singles. Smith defeated 48th-ranked Johann Hesoun 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (10-8) for the 5-2 final.

Against Ohio State, the Irish won the doubles point with wins at the Nos. 1 and 2 spots. After the Buckeyes began with an 8-4 victory at No. 3 doubles, Sachire and Miller rallied from 3-6 to beat Phillip Metz and B.J. Munroe 9-7 at No. 2 doubles. The 48th-ranked team of Taborga and Talarico won the clinching match 9-8 (7-5) over 36th-ranked Andrew Carlson and Chris Porter to give the Irish a 1-0 advantage. Sachire put Notre Dame ahead quickly with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Carlson at No. 1 singles. After Ohio State used wins at Nos. 2 and 3 singles to tie the match at 2-2, Talarico beat Vincent Ng 6-1, 7-6 (7-3) at No. 4 singles for 3-2 lead with his third consecutive win. Laflin then clinched the win for the Irish at No. 5 singles with his second three-set win over Derek DeFalco in as many dual matches. A break of serve at 3-3 in the third set proved to be the difference, as Laflin then held serve twice for the deciding win.

ITA RANKINGS
The Irish stand 29th among the 75 teams ranked by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association after finishing 1999 ranked 31st. Senior All-American Ryan Sachire (Canfield, Ohio) is ranked 17th in singles, while sophomores Javier Taborga and Aaron Talarico are ranked 53rd in doubles.

FARRELL FINISHES
Freshman Brian Farrrell, after a 5-1 record in the fall, recently stepped into the dual-match singles lineup for this first time and simply won his first two matches in straight sets. He began with a 6-3, 6-2 win against Michigan State in the 7-0 Irish victory. With the Irish leading 18th-ranked Kentucky 3-0 but with the three other singles matches to be decided in third sets, Farrell abruptly ended any suspense about the outcome of the match with a 6-2, 7-6 win over Reven Stephens at No. 6 singles. After losing a match on Stephens’ serve at 5-6, Farrell calmly rolled to a 7-2 win in the tiebreaker, improving his record in tiebreakers to a team-leading 5-0.

IRISH FACE TOUGH SLATE
After matches against six ranked teams to open the season, the Irish are scheduled to meet at least seven more ranked teams, including matches at third-ranked Duke, eighth-ranked Illinois and 20th-ranked Texas. Notre Dame also will make its annual trip to Montgomery, Ala., for the prestigious Blue-Gray Classic. Notre Dame will defend its 1999 BIG EAST championship April 20-23, at Miami.

HEAD COACH BOB BAYLISS
Irish head coach Bob Bayliss is in his 13th year as head coach of the Irish, compiling a 235-105 (.691) record at Notre Dame and a career mark of 518-199 (.722), the fifth-best winning percentage among active men’s coaches. Bayliss became the 11th active men’s tennis coach to record 500 career wins on Feb. 20, 1999. He has guided the Irish to NCAA championship appearances in each of the last nine 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 six-time conference coach of year has coached his players to 13 All-America honors in his 12 years at Notre Dame, with senior Ryan Sachire his latest All-American.

1999 FALL REVIEW
As the top combined women’s and men’s tennis programs in the Midwest, Notre Dame was selected to play in the inaugural WingspanBank.com/WORLD TEAM TENNIS National Collegiate Championships held Oct. 1-3, at Stanford. The event, sponsored by Billie Jean King’s WORLD TEAM TENNIS organization, featured sets of men’s and women’s singles and doubles and mixed doubles. The Irish team of Trent Miller, Ryan Sachire, Michelle Dasso and Kelly Zalinski finished sixth out of the 16 invited teams. Notre Dame opened with a 30-12 win over Illinois before falling 26-24 to South Carolina. The Irish beat Tennessee 29-19 in the consolation round before losing 28-20 to third-seeded Mississippi.

The Irish wrapped up the fall season with strong showings in a number of fall events. Notre Dame’s top seven players finished with a 23-13 singles record against regional opponents, while five different players beat opponents ranked in the preseason Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings. Notre Dame combined for a 7-6 singles record against ranked players. The Irish fall season culminated in one of their best all-around showings at the ITA Region IV Singles Championships.

Notre Dame was one of only four schools — with Michigan, Michigan State and Minnesota joining the Irish — to have more than one player advance to the round of 16 and the only school to have three players reach the fourth round. Ryan Sachire and Javier Taborga, who beat three seeded players in his four wins, each won in the fourth round to set up an all-Irish quarterfinal, as Notre Dame was the only school with more than one quarterfinalist.

Individually for the Irish, Sachire reach the semifinals of the T. Rowe Price National Clay Court Championship and the ITA Region IV Singles Championships as the top seed. Smith posted wins over Illinois’ 84th-ranked Jeff Laski and beat eventual ITA Region IV Singles Championships finalist Brad Erickson of Northwestern at the Tom Fallon Invitational. Taborga, who played just four dual matches at No. 6 singles last year, beat Indiana’s Ian Aarons and Minnesota’s Tyson Parry at the ITA Region IV Singles Championships after narrowly losing 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to USC’s Ryan Moore at No. 3 singles. Laflin posted wins over Wisconsin’s Danny Westerman and USC’s Nick Rainey. Talarico went 8-2 with a straight set win against USC.

IRISH INK HADDOCK
Luis Haddock, ranked 20th by the United States Tennis Association among 18-and-under boys, has signed a national letter of intent to attend Notre Dame in the fall of 2000. The Caguas, Puerto Rico, native also was ranked third in the country last year in doubles. Haddock looks to become the second men’s tennis monogram winner to come to Notre Dame from Puerto Rico. Pedro Rossell^~, the current governor of Puerto Rico, played for the Irish from 1963-66, captaining the ’66 team that finished 15-0. Haddock is a senior at Colegio Cat^~lico Notre Dame, where he is ranked first in his class with a 4.0 cumulative grade-point average.

Intercollegiate Tennis Association Rankings

* indicates Notre Dame opponents

Other Notre Dame opponents