February 21, 1999

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The 23rd-ranked Minnesota men’s tennis team, playing without 18th-ranked senior Tom Chicoine, rallied to win a pair of three-set matches to hand 24th-ranked Notre Dame a 4-3 loss on Sunday at the Eck Tennis Pavilion. Thomas Haug rallied from 2-5 down in the third set and Jon Svensson won the clinching match at No. 3 singles for the win. Notre Dame falls to 4-4 with the loss while Minnesota improves to 5-4. Notre Dame returns to the court against Iowa on Wed., Feb. 24 in a 3:00 p.m. match at the Eck Tennis Pavilion.

The Gophers took a 1-0 lead by winning the doubles point to start the match. Ryan Davies and Thomas Haug beat Matt Daly and Casey Smith 8-2 at No. 3 doubles, and Adam Selkirk and Jon Svensson rallied from 0-3 to win 8-4 over Matt Horsley and Trent Miller at No. 2 doubles to clinch the point. Notre Dame’s Brian Patterson and Ryan Sachire won 8-2 at No. 1 doubles.

The Irish built a 3-2 lead in singles before Minnesota rallied for the win. Second-ranked Sachire beat Tyson Parry 6-3, 6-2 at No. 1 singles before Martin Michalowski beat Andy Warford 6-2, 6-2 at No. 4 singles to put Minnesota ahead 2-1. Patterson beat Selkirk 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 at No. 2 singles and Laflin won 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 at No. 6 singles over Jorge Duenas to put the Irish ahead 3-2. Laflin has yet to drop a set six dual singles matches in 1999.

Haug tied the match by rallying for a 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 win over Irish freshman Casey Smith at No. 5 singles. Smith led 5-2 in the third set and served for the match at 5-3 but lost the last five games of the match. Svensson won the deciding match as he hung on for a 6-2, 6-7 (6-8), 6-2 win over Matt Daly at No. 3 singles. Svensson lost a 5-1 lead in the tiebreaker and had two match points at 6-4 in the tiebreaker before Daly forced a third set. Svensson went ahead 5-0 in the third set on his way to the win.

#23 MINNESOTA 4, #24 NOTRE DAME 3

SinglesNo. 1: #2 Ryan Sachire (ND) def. Tyson Parry (M)                    6-3, 6-2No. 2: Brian Patterson (ND) def. Adam Selkirk (M)               7-6 (3), 6-3No. 3: Jon Svensson (M) def. Matt Daly (ND)                6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-2No. 4: Martin Michalowski (M) def. Andy Warford (ND)                6-2, 6-2No. 5: Thomas Haug (M) def. Casey Smith (ND)                   4-6, 6-4, 7-5No. 6: Andrew Laflin (ND) def. Jorge Duenas (M)                7-6, (3), 6-4DoublesNo. 1: Patterson/Sachire (ND) def. Martin Kristoffersen/Michalowski (M)  8-2No. 2: Selkirk/Svensson (M) def. Matt Horsley/Trent Miller (ND)          8-4No. 3: Ryan Davies/Haug (M) def. Daly/Smith (ND)                         8-2