February 23, 1999

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The 24th-ranked Notre Dame men’s tennis team blanked 37th-ranked Northwestern 7-0 and lost 4-3 to 23rd-ranked Minnesota this past week. The Irish return to the court against Iowa and Boise State at the Eck Tennis Pavilion before traveling to Ohio State.

THIS WEEK FOR THE IRISH: The Irish will welcome Iowa and Boise State to the Eck Tennis Pavilion for a pair of matches. Iowa will take on Notre Dame on Wed., Feb. 23, at 3:00 p.m. and enters the match with a 4-1 record after beating Drake 5-2 in its last outing. The Hawkeyes and Irish have met 42 times with Notre Dame leading the series 24-18. The Irish won the last meeting 7-0 in 1997.

Boise State and Notre Dame will play on Fri., Feb. 26, at 3:00 p.m. The Broncos enter the match with a 3-5 record after losses to Clemson, SMU and Minnesota at the Clemson Invitational Feb. 13-14. Boise State has won the doubles point in every match. The Broncos and Irish have met four times, with each team winning twice. Notre Dame lost to Boise State 4-3 twice in two weeks last year after winning 4-3 in both 1995 and 1996.

Ohio State enters the week with a 3-4 record and will take on VCU on Friday before playing Notre Dame on Sat., Feb. 27, at 6:00 p.m. at the Columbus Racket Club. Sophomore Chris Porter is ranked 93rd in singles and is coming off a win over Virginia Tech’s 11th-ranked Aaron Marchetti. Ohio State head coach John Daly served as assistant coach to legendary former Irish coach Tom Fallon for the 1971 season when Notre Dame played host to the NCAA championships. The Irish have beaten the Buckeyes 10 straight times after losing to Ohio State 7-2 in 1988 and lead the all-time series 22-18.

SACHIRE INCHES UP RANKINGS: Ryan Sachire (Canfield, Ohio) is ranked second in the latest rankings, released by the ITA on Feb. 16., up from the No. 3 ranking held after the fall rankings on Dec. 8. Sachire’s No. 2 spot marks 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, who is 23-5 in singles and 9-1 in dual matches, entered the 1998 fall season ranked No. 8 in the preseason but vaulted five spots based on his fall performance. His latest climb comes after winning the Rolex National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships singles consolation and compiling a 9-2 record in 1999.

BAYLISS WINS 500TH-CAREER MATCH: Irish head coach Bob Bayliss became the 11th active men’s tennis coach to record his 500th career win with a 7-0 win over Northwestern on Feb. 20. Bayliss is in his 12th year as head coach of the Irish, compiling a 218-99 (.688) record at Notre Dame and a career mark of 500-193 (.722), the sixth-best winning percentage among active men’s 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 blanked 37th-ranked Northwestern 7-0 on Saturday at the Eck Tennis Pavilion as Irish head coach Bob Bayliss won his 500th career match as a head coach. Notre Dame won two of three doubles matches and dropped just one set in six singles match to beat Northwestern, which had beaten the Irish 5-2 a year ago. Juniors Matt Horsley (Lisle, Ill.) and Trent Miller (San Diego, Calif.) won 8-3 at No. 2 doubles and sophomore Matt Daly (Wellsley, Mass.) and freshman Casey Smith (Leawood, Kan.) won at No. 3 doubles to put the Irish ahead 1-0 after doubles. Northwestern’s Martin Bengtsson and Doug Bohaboy won the final five games of the set to beat senior Brian Patterson (Falmouth, Maine) and junior Ryan Sachire 8-4 at No. 1 doubles.

Smith rolled past Joost Hol at No. 5 singles 6-1, 6-1 for the second Notre Dame point. Freshman Andrew Laflin (Tampa, Fla.), playing in his first dual match in three weeks, won 6-3, 6-0 at No. 6 singles over Jamie Sahara. The second-ranked Sachire then clinched the win with a 6-4, 7-5 win at No. 1 singles over 46th-ranked Bohaboy. Daly and Patterson added straight set wins at Nos. 3 and 2 singles, while senior Andy Warford (Bismarck, N.D.) hung on for a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win over Derrick Nguyen at No. 4 singles in the final match.

Minnesota, playing without 18th-ranked senior Tom Chicoine, rallied to win a pair of three-set matches to hand 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.

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

SACHIRE CONTINUES DUAL MATCH SUCCESS: Ryan Sachire entered his junior year with a 37-10 dual match record in his first two years and has improved that mark to 46-11 with his 9-1 mark this year. Three of the seven wins came against top 10 players, including Texas’ Jack Brasington and Wisconsin’s Mark Loughrin. His overall singles record is 23-5 this year with 14 wins against ranked opponents.

LAFLIN SUCCESSFUL IN RETURN: Irish freshman Andrew Laflin, who missed the Kentucky and Duke matches due to illness, returned to the lineup against Northwestern and Minnesota to give Notre Dame two more wins. Since the 1999 dual-match season began, the southpaw has not dropped a set in six matches and has an overall singles record of 13-5.

SACHIRE WINS ROLEX CONSOLATION SINGLES: Ryan Sachire rallied from a first-round loss to win the singles consolation draw at the Rolex National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, the third leg of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association collegiate grand slam. After Virginia Tech’s 23rd-ranked Adam Marchetti bounced the third-seeded Sachire 7-5, 6-3 in the first round, Sachire won four straight matches to win the consolation singles. He beat small college champion Mario Toledo of Georgia Perimeter 6-0, 6-1, Tulsa’s 53rd-ranked Nenad Toroman 6-2, 6-4, sixth-ranked Esteban Carril of TCU 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 and 25th-ranked Daniel Andersson of VCU 6-2, 6-3 in his four consolation matches.

Sachire latest grand slam success comes after he advanced 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 James Blake, currently the No. 1 player in the country. 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.

IRISH FACE TOUGH SLATE: The Irish have played six matches against ranked teams and two matches against top 10 teams already in 1999. In all, Notre Dame will have played at least 12 matches against ranked teams in 1999, including seven ranked teams at home.

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 Svensson 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.

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 during the dual-match season of his junior year:

     2  ITA national ranking 39  career dual-match singles wins 94  career singles wins717  ATP Tour world ranking   

Intercollegiate Tennis Association Rankings

Team

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

This   Last Name                 SchoolRank   Rank  1.    1.  James Blake          Harvard  2.    3.  Ryan Sachire         Notre Dame  3.    8.  Robert Kendrick      Washington  4.   10.  Peter Handoyo        Tennessee  5.    6.  Esteban Carril       TCU  6.   16.  Francisco Rodriguez  Alabama  7.   13.  Oliver Freelove      Illinois  8.    6.  Ryan Wolters         Stanford  9.    9.  Luis Uribe           Kansas 10.   12.  Guillaume Legat      South Carolina 11.   38.  Aaron Marchetti      Virginia Tech 12.   11.  Hirsham Hemeda       Georgia 13.   25.  Daniel Andersson     VCU 14.   NR   Jean-Noel Grinda     UCLAT15.   23.  Chad Carlsson        GeorgiaT15.    5   Adam Marchetti       Virginia Tech 17.   15.  Efe Ustundag         RiceT18.   14.  Tom Chicoine         MinnesotaT18.  T21.  Alex Waske           San Diego State 20.  T17.  KJ Hippensteel       Stanford 21.   20.  Marco Baron          Mississippi State 22.    7.  Jack Brasington      Texas 23.   30.  Shuon Madden         Texas A&MT24.   29.  Jeff Morrison        FloridaT24.    2.  Brian Vahaly         Virginia