Jan. 30, 1997

Men’s Tennis Off to Best Start in Five Years with Win over Illini

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Notre Dame’s men’s tennis team improved to 5-0 on the season with a 5-2 win over Illinois Thursday at the Eck Tennis Pavilion. The 5-0 start is the best for the Irish since the 1992 team, which ended the season No. 2 in the country, started 6-0. Head coach Bobby Bayliss and the Irish look to match this when they travel to William & Mary for a Sat., Feb. 1 contest against the Tribe.

Against Illinois, the Irish started the match by claiming the doubles point as the freshman duo of Trent Miller and Ryan Sachire and sophomore pair of Jakub Pietrowski and Brian Patterson won both of their matches to clinch the double point for the Irish.

Ryan Simme gave Notre Dame a 2-0 lead with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Brady Blain and Patterson made it 3-0 as he beat Oliver Freelove 6-3, 6-4. Pietrowski then clinched the win for the Irish with his 7-6, 6-3 win over Jerry Turek. Eric Enloe’s come-from-behind 6-7, 6-4, 6-4 win over Jeff Laski gave Notre Dame its fifth point. Illinois won a pair of three-set matches as Gavin Sontag defeated Sachire 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 and Jakub Tiley beat Dan Rothschild 6-4, 4-6, 7-6.

“I am really happy the win,” said Bayliss. “We are excited that we are playing well early in the season. We are competing better than in the past couple of years and playing better to their ability.”

NOTRE DAME 5, ILLINOIS 2SinglesNo. 1:  Gavin Sontag (I) def. Ryan Sachire (ND) 6-4, 1-6, 7-5No. 2:  Jakub Pietrowski (ND) def. Jerry Turek (I) 7-6, 6-3No. 3:  Brian Patterson (ND) def. Oliver Freelove (I) 6-3, 6-4No. 4:  Ryan Simme (ND) def. Brady Blain (I) 6-2, 6-2No. 5:  Jakub Teply (I) def. Dan Rothschild (ND) 6-4, 4-6, 7-6No. 6:  Eric Enloe (ND) def. Jeff Laski (I) 6-7, 6-4, 6-4DoublesNo. 1:  Pietrowski/Patterson (ND) def. Blain/Turek (I) 8-5No. 2:  Sontag/Laski (I) def. Simme/Rothschild (ND) 8-5No. 3:  Sachire/Trent Miller (ND) def. Freelove/Teply (I) 8-4