April 10, 2001
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The 16th-ranked Notre Dame men’s tennis team rallied from a 3-1 deficit to beat visiting and 19th-ranked Indiana State 4-3 on Tuesday in match that lasted over four hours and marked Notre Dame’s fourth straight 4-3 match. Irish junior Aaron Talarico won the decisive match with a 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 6-4 victory at No. 4 singles — the second time in as many Notre Dame wins Talarico has provided the clinched victory with the match tied at 3-3. The Irish edged host Baylor 4-3 on Saturday with Talarico’s No. 4 singles win. Notre Dame improves to 15-5 and continues its best start since1997, while Indiana State falls to 18-4.
The Irish took a 1-0 lead after doubles with wins at Nos. 2 and 3 doubles. Juniors James Malhame and Casey Smith won the first three and final five games of their 8-1 blitzing of Indiana State’s Lovre Brajkovic and Verdan Vidovic at No. 2 doubles. Senior Matt Daly and freshman Luis Haddock-Morales won the clinching match with an 8-6 decision over Dalibor Mihajlovic and David O’Connell. The Sycamores won at No. 1 doubles after the Irish had taken the 1-0 lead.
Indiana State rallied from the doubles loss to take a 3-1 lead with straight-set wins in the top half of the lineup. Jonas Piibor beat Smith 6-1, 6-3 at No. 1 singles to knot the match. Stefan Hirn lost a 5-2 first-set lead but recovered to down 99th-ranked Irish junior Javier Taborga 7-5, 6-2 at No. 2 singles, before Vidovic beat Haddock-Morales 7-6, 6-2 at No. 3 singles for a 3-1 Sycamore lead.
Daly beat O’Connell 6-3, 6-2 at No. 6 singles to pull the Irish within 3-2. Sophomore Brian Farrell then held on for a 7-5, 7-6 (9-7) win over Henry Choi at No. 5 singles. Choi saved three match points as he rallied from 2-5 in the second set to force a tiebreaker. Farrell then saved set points for Choi at 6-5 and 7-6 in the tiebreaker that he won 9-7.
The outcome came down to the match’s only three setter at No. 4 singles between Talarico and Brajkovic. Brajkovic served at 4-3 in the first set before Talarico broke serve to level the set. Talarico saved a set point at 5-6 in the tiebreaker and went on to an 8-6 win in the tiebreaker. Brajkovic jumped out to a 4-1 second-set lead before Talarico tied the set at 4-4 and had two break points on Brajkovic’s for a chance to serve out the match in straight sets. The Sycamore sophomore fought off those break points to hold serve and then broke to force a third set.
Darkness forced the match indoors from the Courtney Tennis Center to the Eck Tennis Pavilion just as Brajkovic won the second set and Farrell won at No. 5 singles. Talarico broke serve to open the third set and held his own serve the rest of the way for the 6-4 win in the third set. He improved his team-best dual singles record to 13-3 with his team-leading fifth clinching singles victory in Notre Dame’s 15 victories.
#16 NOTRE DAME 4, #19 INDIANA STATE 3
Singles
No. 1: Jonas Piibor (ISU) def. Casey Smith (ND) 6-1, 6-3
No. 2: Stefan Hirn (ISU) def. #99 Javier Taborga (ND) 7-5, 6-2
No. 3: Verdan Vidovic (ISU) def. Luis Haddock-Morales (ND) 7-6, 6-2
No. 4: Aaron Talarico (ND) def. Lovre Brajkovic (ISU) 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 6-4
No. 5: Brian Farrell (ND) def. Henry Choi (ISU) 7-5, 7-6 (9-7)
No. 6: Matt Daly (ND) def. David O’Connell (ISU) 6-3, 6-2
Doubles
No. 1: Hirn/Piibor (ISU) def. #21 Taborga/Talarico (ND) 8-5
No. 2: James Malhame/Smith (ND) def. Brajkovic/Vidovic (ISU) 8-1
No. 3: Daly/Haddock-Morales (ND) def. Dalibor Mihajlovic/O’Connell (ISU) 8-6