November 5, 1996

Notre Dame’s Sachire Advances to Finals of Rolex Region IV

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Notre Dame freshman Ryan Sachire made animpressive debut at the 1996 ITA Rolex Region IV Intercollegiate tennischampionships Monday. Sachire advance to the finals with a 7-6, 6-4 winover No. 1 seed teammate Jakub Pietrowski in the semifinals in his firstmatch on Monday. Sachire fell just short in the finals as Purdue’sJamie Gordon ended Sachire’s run with a tight 7-6, 3-6, 6-1 win. Illinois’ Brady Blain and Jerry Turek won the doubles with a 6-4, 7-6win over Purdue’s Cris James and Derek Myers.

Notre Dame joined Purdue as the only team to advance three player to thesemifinals of both the singles and doubles draw. Brian Patterson teamedwith Pietrowski to advance to the double semifinals for the Irish beforelosing to James and Myers. Pietrowski was the only player in the drawto advance to the semifinals of both singles and doubles.

Notre Dame’s men’s tennis team returns to action at the Ice Vollies inMinneapolis, Minn., Nov. 8-10.

November 3, 1996

Notre Dame Advances Two Players to Rolex Semifinals

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Notre Dame advanced two men’s tennis players to the semifinals of the ITA Rolex Region IV Championships in East Lansing, Mich. Sunday. Junior Jakub Pietrowski and freshman Ryan Sachire won quarterfinal matches to set up the all-Irish semifinal between the two teammates who will meet Monday for a spot in the finals.

The second-seeded Pietrowski won a 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) match over No. 6 seed Alex Witt of Northwestern. Pietrowski had won three three-set matches to advance to Sunday’s quarterfinal. Sachire had a much easier route to the quarterfinals with his three straight-set matches on Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, though, eighth-seeded Jerry Turek of Illinois routed the freshman 6-0 in the first set before Sachire rallied for a 6-3, 6-4 win the last two sets. Purdue’s Jamie Gordon will face Ball State’s Bryan Smith in the other semifinal.

In doubles action, Notre Dame’s No. 3 seeded duo of Pietrowski and Brian Patterson dropped their semifinal match to the top-seeded team of Derek Myers and Chris James of Purdue. The pair lost a 9-8 (7-5) match as James and Myers advanced to the finals to face Turek and Brady Blain. Turek and Blain had earlier ousted Notre Dame’s Danny Rothschild and Danny Rothschild in the third round 8-6.