April 1, 2000
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — The 30th-ranked Notre Dame men’s tennis team split six singles matches with 10th-ranked Texas but then lost the doubles point to lose to the Longhorns by a 4-3 score for the fifth straight year and for the sixth time in the last seven years. Senior All-American Ryan Sachire and sophomores Casey Smith and Andrew Laflin each won in singles for the Irish, who fall to 9-8 with the loss. Notre Dame returns to action at 20th-ranked Michigan on April 13.
Saturday’s match was moved from Austin to San Antonio due to rain and was played indoors on four courts. Singles was played first in the event that doubles would not be needed to decide the winner. Sachire beat 68th-ranked Brandon Hawk 6-1, 6-1 at No. 1 singles, while Smith defeated 25th-ranked Michael Blue 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) at No. 3 singles. The Longhorns used wins at No. 2 and 4 singles for a 2-2 tie after the first four singles matches. Laflin then beat Ron Kloppert at No. 6 singles by a 7-5, 6-3 score to give the Irish a 3-2 lead. Texas won the only three-set match when Craig Edmondson rallied for a 6-7 (7-5), 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 5 singles to tie the match at 3-3 and sending it into doubles.
At the same time Edmondson was completing his comeback, Sachire and senior Trent Miller beat Hawk and Jorge Haro 9-8 (7-5) at No. 2 doubles to put Notre Dame within one pro-set of its first win over Texas since 1993. The Longhorns rallied once again with 8-6 wins at No. 1 and 3 doubles to win their ninth straight match this season and eight straight over the Irish.
#10 TEXAS 4, #30 NOTRE DAME 3
Singles
No. 1: #13 Ryan Sachire (ND) def. #68 Brandon Hawk (UT) 6-1, 6-1
No. 2: #59 Crowell (UT) def. Matt Daly (ND) 6-2, 6-4
No. 3: Casey Smith (ND) def. #25 Michael Blue (UT) 6-4, 7-6 (2)
No. 4: Jean Simon (UT) def. Javier Taborga (ND) 6-4, 6-2
No. 5: Craig Edmondson (UT) def. Aaron Talarico (ND) 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-1
No. 6: Andrew Laflin (ND) def. Ron Kloppert (UT) 7-5, 6-3
Doubles
No. 1: #3 Blue/Crowell (UT) def. #29 Taborga/Talarico (ND) 8-6
No. 2: Trent Miller/Sachire (ND) def. Hawk/Jorge Haro (UT) 9-8 (5)
No. 3: Kloppert/Stephen Patak (UT) def. James Malhame/Smith (ND) 8-6