March 27, 1999

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The 26th-ranked Notre Dame men’s tennis team lost three three-set singles matches as second-ranked Illinois beat the Irish 5-2 on Saturday at the Courtney Tennis Center. Leading 2-1 in the match, the Illini used three-set wins at Nos. 3 and 5 singles to improve to 14-2 on the year, while Notre Dame falls to 11-7 with its third straight loss. The Irish return to action on Mon., April 5, when they travel to Purdue for a 2:00 p.m. match.

Illinois won the doubles point to start the match as Jeff Laski and Jamal Parker beat Trent Miller and Javier Taborga 8-5 at No. 2 doubles. Illinois’ seventh-ranked team of Cary Franklin and Oliver Freelove beat 43rd-ranked Brian Patterson and Ryan Sachire 8-5 at No. 1 doubles to clinch the point. Notre Dame’s Matt Daly and Casey Smith beat Matthew Snyder and Jakub Teply 9-8 at No. 3 doubles.

Patterson knotted the match at 1-1 as he won his ninth consecutive singles match with a 6-3, 6-4 win over 55th-ranked Franklin at No. 2 singles. Teply wasted five match points before finally beating Irish freshman Andrew Laflin 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) at No. 4 singles. Laflin saved two match points at 4-5 in the second set and saved three more as he rallied from 2-6 to 5-6 in the tiebreaker.

The teams split a pair of seesaw matches at Nos. 5 and 6 singles for a 3-2 Illinois lead. In a battle of freshmen, Illinois’ Mike Kosta held on for a 6-0, 1-6, 7-5 win over Smith at No. 5 singles after losing a 4-1 lead in the third set. Irish senior Andy Warford also survived a second-set loss in his 6-1, 0-6, 6-4 win over Arnaud Lantin at No. 6 singles. The 88th-ranked Laski then clinched the match with a 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 win over Daly at No. 3 singles. Eighth-ranked Freelove won the battle of top 10 singles players in the final match with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 win over second-ranked Sachire after trailing 2-4 in the third set.

#2 Illinois 5, #26 NOTRE DAME 2

Singles

No. 1: #8 Oliver Freelove (I) def. #2 Ryan Sachire (ND)   6-4, 5-7, 6-4No. 2: Brian Patterson (ND) def. #55 Cary Franklin (I)         6-3, 6-4No. 3: #88 Jeff Laski (I) def. Matt Daly (ND)             7-5, 2-6, 6-4No. 4: Jakub Teply (I) def. Andrew Laflin (ND)              6-4, 7-6 (5)No. 5: Mike Kosta (I) def. Casey Smith (ND)               6-0, 1-6, 7-5No. 6: Andy Warford (ND) def. Arnaud Lantin (I)           6-1, 0-6, 6-4

Doubles

No. 1: #7 Franklin/Freelove (I) def. #43 Patterson/Sachire (ND)     8-5No. 2: Laski/Parker (I) def. Miller/Taborga (ND)                    8-5No. 3: Daly/Smith (ND) def. Snyder/Teply (I)                     9-8 (4)