January 25, 1999

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The 24th-ranked Notre Dame men’s tennis team beat DePaul and William & Mary on Sat., Jan. 23, to win the adidas Quad Meet at the Eck Tennis Pavilion. The Irish return to action when they travel to Madison, Wis., to take on 63rd-ranked Wisconsin at 2:00 p.m. before returning home to take on seventh-ranked Texas on Sat., Jan. 30, at 2:00 p.m.

THIS WEEK FOR THE IRISH: The Irish hit the road for their first road dual match of the season as they travel to Madison, Wis., this week for a 2:00 p.m. match on Tuesday. This will be the first dual match of the season for the Badgers, who are led by senior Mark Loughrin, currently ranked fourth in the nation in singles, one spot behind Irish junior Ryan Sachire (Canfield, Ohio). Notre Dame leads the all-time series with Wisconsin by a 37-16 margin and have won the last seven meetings since a 6-3 loss to the Badgers in 1991 in Madison.

The Irish return home to face the seventh-ranked Texas Longhorns on Sat., Jan. 30, at 1:00 p.m. The Longhorns opened the season by losing just two sets combined in beating both Texas-San Antonio and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi by 7-0 scores on Saturday in Austin, Texas. Texas boasts three singles players ranked among the top 100 players, seventh-ranked senior Jack Brasington, 31st-ranked freshman Brandon Hawk and 83rd ranked sophomore Paul Martin. The doubles team of Michael Blue and Hawk are ranked 19th while Michael Blue and Martin are 45th. Texas leads the all-time series with Notre Dame 6-2, with the last three meetings won 4-3 by the Longhorns. The last Irish win in the series came in 1993 when Notre Dame edged 10th-ranked Texas 4-3.

BAYLISS APPROACHES 500TH WIN: Irish head coach Bob Bayliss enters the week with 498 wins in his 30th year as a head coach, just two away from his landmark 500th career win. Bayliss is in his 12th year as head coach of the Irish, compiling a 216-95 (.695) record at Notre Dame and a career mark of 498-189 (.725), the sixth best winning percentage among active coaches. He has guided the Irish to NCAA championship appearances in each of the last eight years, including an NCAA second-place finish in 1992. The Richmond, Va., native, and 1966 graduate of Richmond has been named ITA national coach of the year in 1992 and ITA regional coach of the year three times. The five-time conference coach of year has coached his players to 12 All-America honors in his 11 years at Notre Dame, with junior Ryan Sachire his latest All-American.

WEEK IN REVIEW: The Irish opened their dual-match season with wins over DePaul and William & Mary to win the adidas Quad Meet at the Eck Tennis Pavilion on Saturday. The Irish beat Miami (Ohio) 4-2 in the first match of the day and downed William & Mary 6-1 to win the meet. The Tribe had beaten DePaul 4-2 in their first match of the day. The Blue Demons beat Miami 4-2 in the consolation match. Singles matches were played first in all four matches.

Notre Dame took command of the final match by winning five of six singles matches against William & Mary. Third-ranked Irish junior Ryan Sachire jumped out a 3-0 lead before William & Mary’s Trevor Spracklin was forced to retire with an injury at No. 1 singles. Andrew Laflin (Tampa, Fla.) then put Notre Dame ahead 2-0 with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Tim Csontos at No. 6 singles. The Tribe’s Brian Lubin beat Casey Smith (Leawood, Kan.) at No. 5 after Smith saved six match points but fell 6-3, 7-6 (13-11).

Brian Patterson (Falmouth, Maine) won Notre Dame’s third point with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-1) win over Lee Harang at No. 2 singles. Matt Daly (Wellesly, Mass.) clinched the win for the Irish with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 at No. 3 singles after saving five break points while serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set. Andy Warford (Bismarck, N.D.) rallied for a 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 win over Patrick Brown at No. 4 singles for Notre Dame’s fifth singles win.

The Irish swept all three doubles matches to win the doubles point. Sachire was the beneficiary of another 3-0 win at No. 1 doubles with Patterson when Harang retired with an injury. Matt Horsley (Lisle, Ill.) and Trent Miller (San Diego, Ill.) edged Brown and Lubin 9-7 at No. 2 doubles, and Daly and Smith won 8-3 over Mehdy Karbid and Csontos at No. 3 doubles.

In the first match of the day, Sachire beat Miami’s Gareth Quin 6-0, 6-4 at No. 1 singles, and Patterson won 6-2, 6-0 over Miami’s B.J. Monroe at No. 2 singles. After Laflin won 6-1, 6-2 over the Redhawk’s Brent Lehring at No. 5 singles, Casey Smith clinched the win for the Irish as he rallied for a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 win over Amin Nabli at No. 4 singles. Miami’s Scott Rutherford and Steven van der Westhuyzen recorded singles win at Nos. 3 and 6 singles.

SACHIRE REACHES GRAND SLAM FINAL: Ryan Sachire highlighted his fall season by advancing to the final of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-American Championships Oct. 15-18, 1998, in Austin, Texas, the second of the four ITA collegiate grand slam events, before losing 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) to Harvard’s second-seeded and fourth-ranked James Blake. Sachire became just the second Notre Dame men’s tennis player to reach the final of a collegiate grand slam, joining David DiLucia in 1992. Sachire reached the final by rallying for a 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, 6-4 semifinal win over Washington’s unseeded and 21st-ranked Robert Kendrick. The Canfield, Ohio, native and former Canfield High School standout was one of eight seeds in the 64-player draw at the ITA All-American Championships. He reached the quarterfinals of the tournament last year as a sophomore. Sachire finished with a 5-1 record in the tournament and posted straight-set wins over Texas A&M’s Shuon Madden, Northwestern’s 64th-ranked Doug Bohaboy, Miami’s 46th-ranked Ivan Rodrigo and Stanford’s 30th-ranked Alex Kim to reach the semifinals.

FRESHMEN SPARK IRISH: Notre Dame’s class of 2002 has made its impression in the lineup already. Andrew Laflin won a pair of singles matches at Nos. 5 and 6 singles this weekend, dropping only six games in both matches. Casey Smith clinched Notre Dame’s win over Miami by beating Amin Nabli 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 at No. 4 singles. Aaron Talarico played at No. 6 singles against Miami, while Javier Taborga (La Paz, Bolivia) is ready to help the Irish in doubles.

IRISH FACE TOUGH SLATE: The Irish, who finished 18-8 a year ago, will play 12 matches against ranked teams and will face seven ranked teams at home. Of these seven teams, three top 10 teams, Duke, Illinois and Texas, will travel to Notre Dame.

ITA RANKINGS: Notre Dame currently is ranked 24th as a team after a final ranking of 26 with an 18-8 record in 1998. Ryan Sachire is ranked third in the latest rankings, released by the ITA on Dec. 8., the highest ranking for an Irish singles player since David DiLucia finished the 1992 regular season as the No. 1 player in the country. Sachire entered the 1998 fall season ranked No. 8 in the preseason but vaulted five spots based on his fall performance. He teamed with Brian Patterson to form the 28th ranked doubles team in the preseason rankings but the pair played in one fall tournament and slipped out of the rankings.

FALL REVIEW: In addition to reaching the final of the ITA All-American Championships, Ryan Sachire led the team in wins with his 12-3 record, including seven wins over ranked players. Matt Daly was right behind Sachire with 11 wins against just two losses. He went 5-0 at the Thunderbird Invitational at Arizona State in the round robin. His first loss came to teammate Casey Smith 7-5, 6-4 at the Rice Invitational and his second loss came in the third round of the ITA Region IV championship to eventual champion Mark Loughrin of Wisconsin by a 6-1, 7-6 (6) score.

Andrew Laflin finished with a 7-5 record in his first fall season at Notre Dame and qualified for the ITA Region IV championship where he had a first round bye, won his second round match and lost in the third round to Jon Svenson of Minnesota. Smith opened his collegiate tennis career by winning his flight at the Rice Invitational and earned a seed at the ITA Region IV championship. Aaron Talarico lost just once, finishing with a 7-1 record and a five match winning streak at the Thunderbird Invitational. Javier Taborga went 5-3 with two of his three losses coming in three sets.

SACHIRE TO COMPETE AT THIRD GRAND SLAM: Ryan Sachire, who reached the third round and the final at the first two legs of the ITA collegiate grand slam, will travel to the Brookhaven Country Club in Dallas, Texas, Feb. 4-7, for the 22nd annual Rolex National Intercollegiate Indoor championship, the third leg of the grand slam. Sachire will be making his third trip to the Rolex National Intercollegiate Indoor championship.

IRISH SPLIT FALL EXHIBITION MATCHES: The Irish played a pair of exhibition dual matches against Stanford and Baylor at the Eck Tennis Pavilion on the Friday nights prior to football games against the Cardinal and the Bears. Results for these matches did not count on the teams’ records but the individual singles and doubles results are reflected in each players’ record. Notre Dame dropped a tight 5-2 match to defending NCAA champion Stanford on Oct. 2, as the Cardinal won two of three doubles matches to claim the doubles point and then won two three-set matches for a 5-2 win over the Irish.

In the No. 1 singles match, Ryan Sachire, then ranked eighth in the preseason rankings, defeated sixth-ranked Stanford senior Ryan Wolters 6-2, 6-1. The Cardinal’s Geoff Abrams and Alex Kim then won in straight sets at Nos. 2 and 3 singles to take a 3-1 lead. Stanford freshman K.J. Hippensteel clinched the match for the Cardinal by winning a tight, three-set match 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 over Casey Smith at No. 4 singles. Matt Daly won Notre Dame’s second singles match when Stanford’s Scotty Scott was forced to retire in the second set due to cramps at No. 5 singles. Ali Ansari closed out the match with a three-set win over Irish freshman Andrew Laflin at No. 6 singles.

In doubles, Wolters and Hippensteel teamed up to beat Brian Patterson and Sachire at No. 1, while Abrams and Kim beat Daly and Smith at No. 2 doubles to clinch the doubles point for the Cardinal. Andy Warford and Aaron Talarico won at No. 3 doubles over Ansari and Scott.

Against Baylor on Oct. 30, Daly won a tight 6-3, 7-5 match at No. 5 singles over Baylor’s Johannes Michalsky to clinch a 4-3 victory for the Irish. Notre Dame won the doubles point and the first two singles matches to lead 3-0 before Baylor won three straight to tie the match. Daly trailed 4-5 in the second set as Michalsky served to send the match into a third set. Daly then broke serve to tie the set at 5-5, saved two break points to hold serve for 6-5 and then won the match with another service break.

Sachire beat Johann Jooste 6-2, 6-4 at No. 1 singles, and Laflin won 6-0, 6-4 over Mark Williams at No. 6 singles for the other Irish singles wins, which had put Notre Dame ahead 3-0. Baylor’s comeback began with a 7-5, 6-2 win at No. 3 singles by Jorge Aldrete over Warford. Csongor Bibza then beat Casey Smith 6-3, 6-7, 6-1 at No. 4, and Pawel Gaidzik downed Patterson at No. 2 singles to complete the comeback for the Bears. In the doubles competition, Sachire and Patterson beat Gajdzik and Michalsky 8-3 at No. 1, and Daly and Smith edged Bibza and Jooste 8-5 at No. 2 to clinch the doubles point for Notre Dame. David Hodge and Williams beat Talarico and Warford 8-4 at No. 3 doubles for Baylor

Intercollegiate Tennis Association Rankings

Team Release: Dec. 8, 1998 (Fall)
This   Last  School                 TotalRank   Year  1.    1.   Stanford (9)            600  2.    3.   Georgia                 588  3.    4.   Mississippi State (1)   576  4.    6.   Mississippi             566 T5.   10.   Illinois *              563 T5.    7.   UCLA                    563  7.    5.   Texas *                 562  8.    9.   Pepperdine              535  9.   15.   South Carolina          534T10.   21.   SMU                     523T10.   14.   Duke *                  523 12.   19.   Tennessee               509 13.   16.   Florida                 507 14.   13.   Texas A&M               491 15.    8.   USC                     490 16.   18.   Harvard                 477 17.   27.   Arizona State           463 18.   17.   Washington              460T19.   28.   Baylor                  452T19.    2.   LSU                     452 21.   22.   Alabama                 439 22.   30.   Fresno State            432 23.   33.   Minnesota *             428 24.   26.   Notre Dame              416 25.   11.   California              415
* indicates Notre Dame opponents
Other Notre Dame opponents 26.   25.   Kentucky                400 33.   51.   Purdue                  341 37.   32.   Northwestern            311 43.   20.   Boise State             260 53.   31.   Miami (Fla.)            175 54.   68.   Michigan State          161 59.   55.   Michigan                132 63.   59.   Wisconsin               110
Singles Release: Dec. 8, 1998 (Fall)This  Last   Name                    SchoolRank  Rank  1.    4.  James Blake Harvard  2.   15.  Brian Vahaly             Virginia  3.    8.  Ryan Sachire             Notre Dame  4.   65.  Mark Loughrin            Wisconsin  5.    6.  Ryan Wolters             Stanford  6.   17.  Esteban Carril           TCU  7.   62.  Jack Brasington          Texas  8.   21.  Robert Kendrick          Washington  9.   NR   Luis Uribe               Kansas 10.   97.  Peter Handoyo            Tennessee 11.    7.  Hisham Hemeda            Georgia 12.   20.  Guillaume Legat          South Carolina 13.   37.  Oliver Freelove          Illinois 14.   22.  Tom Chicoine             Minnesota 15.   68   Efe Ustundag             Rice 16.    5   Francisco Rodriguez      AlabamaT17.   29.  Ignacio Hirigoyen        SMUT17.   95.  KJ Hippensteel           Stanford 19.   30.  Alex Kim                 Stanford 20.   72.  Marco Baron              Mississippi St.T21.   NR   Kelly Gullet             PepperdineT21.   51   Alex Waske               San Diego State 23.   80.  Adam Marchetti           Virginia Tech 24.   49.  Myles Clouston           Wake Forest 25.    3.  Daniel Andersson         VCU

Summer Suits Sachire

Ryan Sachire spent the summer of 1998 with the USTA Summer All-American team, traveling the pro circuit. He won a futures tournament in College Station, Texas, and reached the finals of the doubles event at a satellite tournament in Springfield, Mo. Here is where Sachire stands entering the dual-match season of his junior year:

  1   ITA regional ranking  3   ITA national ranking 37   career dual-match singles wins 83   career singles wins718   ATP Tour world ranking