March 26, 2000

DURHAM, N.C. — The 23rd-ranked Notre Dame men’s tennis team lost the doubles point and won just one singles match in losing 6-1 to fifth-ranked Duke on Sunday in Durham, N.C. Senior All-American Ryan Sachire beat Doug Root 6-3, 6-4 for the only Irish victory. Notre Dame falls to 9-7 with the loss and returns to action at ninth-ranked Texas on Sat., April 1.

Duke swept a scrambled Notre Dame doubles lineup to take a 1-0 lead heading into singles. Irish sophomore Javier Taborga — ranked 37th in doubles with Aaron Talarico — did not play on Saturday, moving the No. 2 team of senior Trent Miller and Sachire to No. 1 doubles. Duke’s third-ranked team of Root and Ramsey Smith beat Miller and Sachire 8-6. Sophomores James Malhame and Casey Smith lost at No. 2 doubles 8-6 to Andres Pedroso and Ted Rueger in their first match at No. 2 doubles. Talarico and Matt Daly played their first match together and lost 8-2 at No. 3 doubles.

The Blue Devils then won five singles matches at Nos. 2-6 in straight sets for their six points. Sachire improved to 25-9 with his 12th win of the year at No. 1 singles.

#5 DUKE 6, #23 NOTRE DAME 1

Singles

No. 1: #10 Ryan Sachire (ND) def. #42 Doug Root (D) 6-3, 6-4

No. 2: #18 Ramsey Smith (D) def. Casey Smith (ND) 6-2, 6-4

No. 3: #51 Andres Pedroso (D) def. Matt Daly (ND) 7-6, 6-1

No. 4: Joel Spicher (D) def. Aaron Talarico (ND) 6-0, 6-4

No. 5: #79 Marko Cerenko (D) def. Andrew Laflin (ND) 6-1, 6-3

No. 6: Yorke Allen (D) def. Brian Farrell (ND) 6-2, 6-4

Doubles

No. 1: #3 Root/Smith (D) def. Trent Miller/Sachire (ND) 8-6

No. 2: Pedroso/Ted Rueger (D) def. James Malhame/Smith (ND) 8-6

No. 3: Spicher/Pedro Escudero (D) def. Daly/Talarico (ND) 8-2