Feb. 10, 2001

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The 30th-ranked Notre Dame men’s tennis team lost to fifth-ranked Duke 6-1 on Saturday at the Eck Tennis Pavilion. The Blue Devils won two of three doubles matches and then won five of six singles matches for the victory. The Irish fall to 3-2 with the loss and will face Iowa on Sunday.

Duke used wins at Nos. 2 and 3 doubles to take the doubles point. The teams traded early breaks of serve in the sets before the Blue Devils used breaks late in both sets to win both. Irish juniors and 38th-ranked Javier Taborga and Aaron Talarico recovered from 2-5 in a tiebreaker at No. 1 doubles to beat 25th-ranked Andres Pedroso and Ted Rueger 9-8 (10-8).

Second-ranked Marko Cerenko gave Duke a 2-0 lead with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Irish freshman Luis Haddock-Morales at No. 3 singles. Freshman Matthew Scott pulled Notre Dame with 2-1 by defeating Alex Bose 6-3, 6-4 at No. 6 singles. Duke then won a pair of straight-set matches at Nos. 2 and 5 singles to clinch the win. The Blue Devils completed the 6-1 win with a pair of three-set matches at Nos. 1 and 4 singles after dropping the first set in both matches.

#5 DUKE 6, #30 NOTRE DAME 1

Singles

No. 1: #11 Ramsey Smith (D) def. #95 Casey Smith (ND) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4

No. 2: Phillip King (D) def. #75 Javier Taborga (ND) 6-4, 6-3

No. 3: #2 Marko Cerenko (D) def. Luis Haddock-Morales (ND) 6-4, 6-1

No. 4: #21 Andres Pedroso (D) def. Aaron Talarico (ND) 3-6, 6-1, 7-5

No. 5: Joel Spicher (D) def. Brian Farrell (ND) 6-3, 6-4

No. 6: Matthew Scott (ND) def. Alex Bose (D) 6-3, 6-4

Doubles

No. 1: #38 Taborga/Talarico (ND) def. #25 Pedroso/Ted Rueger (D) 9-8 (10-8)

No. 2: Cerenko/King (D) def. Haddock-Morales/Smith (ND) 8-5

No. 3: Bose/Smith (D) def. Matt Daly/James Malhame (ND) 8-5