March 20, 1999
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The 26th-ranked Notre Dame men’s tennis team dropped a 4-1 match to 30th-ranked Tulane on Saturday in the consolation round of the Blue-Gray National Classic in Montgomery, Ala. The match, which saw five of the six singles matches extend into third sets, marked the second straight loss for the Irish after having a seven-match winning streak stopped by Texas A&M on Friday. Notre Dame falls to 11-6 and returns to the court on Sat., March 27, when second-ranked Illinois travels to the Eck Tennis Pavilion for a 1:00 p.m. match.
Irish junior All-American Ryan Sachire, the second-ranked singles player in the country, lost for the first time in 10 singles matches, dating back to Feb. 13. Green Wave senior and 48th-ranked Robert Samuelsson beat Sachire 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 at No. 1 singles. Tulane also won at Nos. 4 and 5 singles after also winning the doubles point. Chris Ortner beat Irish freshman Casey Smith 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 at No. 4, and Mikko Viljanen beat senior Andy Warford 6-4, 6-1 at No. 5 singles. Matt Daly won the only point for Notre Dame as he rallied for a 2-6, 7-6, 6-0 win over Ronald Kloppert at No. 3 singles.
Notre Dame senior Brian Patterson and freshman Javier Taborga had their matches abandoned once Tulane had clinched the win. Samuelsson and Kloppert beat Patterson and Sachire 8-1 at No. 1 doubles, and Dennis Lundberg and Viljanen beat Trent Miller and Javier Taborga 8-6 at No. 2 to claim the doubles point for Tulane.
#30 TULANE 4, #26 NOTRE DAME 1
Singles
No. 1: #48 Robert Samuelsson (T) def. #2 Ryan Sachire (ND) 6-2, 2-6, 6-2
No. 2: Brian Patterson (ND) vs. Dennis Lundberg (T) 4-6, 7-6 (5), 3-2, abandoned
No. 3: Matt Daly (ND) def. Ronald Kloppert (T) 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-0
No. 4: Chris Ortner (T) def. Casey Smith (ND) 6-3, 3-6, 7-5
No. 5: Mikko Viljanen (T) def. Andy Warford (ND) 6-4, 6-1
No. 6: Javier Taborga (ND) vs. Jon Monk (T) 4-6, 6-4, 3-2, abandoned
Doubles
No. 1: Kloppert/Samuelsson (T) def. Patterson/Sachire (ND) 8-1
No. 2: Lundberg/Viljanen (T) def. Trent Miller/Taborga (ND) 8-6
No. 3: Daly/Smith (ND) vs. Monk/Ortner (T) 6-3, abandoned