Feb. 23, 1997

Notre Dame Falls to North Carolina

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Notre Dame’s men’s tennis team dropped a tight 4-3 match to No. 14 North Carolina Sunday at the EckTennis Pavilion. With the match knotted at 3-3, Notre Dame’s Jakub Pietrowski and North Carolina’s Tripp Phillips battled at No. 2singles in the deciding match. Down a set and 2-5 in the second set, Pietrowski saved four match points to rally and send the set into atiebreaker. Phillips then took control of the tiebreaker, winning 7-2 to clinch the win for the Tar Heels.

North Carolina started off strong as they won the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 3 doubles to take a 1-0 lead heading into singles. The heart of North Carolina’s lineup came through as the Tar Heels won at Nos. 2,3 and 4 singles for win. Notre Dame’s Ryan Sachire,Dan Rothschild and Eric Enloe won at Nos. 1, 5 and 6 for the Irish.

The loss drops Notre Dame to 8-3 on the season while North Carolina remains perfect at 4-0. The Irish travel to Michigan State onWed., Feb. 26 in their next match.

North Carolina 4, Notre Dame 3

Doubles:
No. 1: Jakub Pietrowski/Brian Patterson (ND) def. Tony Thomas/Tripp Phillips (NC) 8-2
No. 2: Eric Saunders/Paul Harsanyi (NC) def. Ryan Simme/Dan Rothschild (ND) 8-6
No. 3: Robert Tedesco/Eric Gordon (NC) def. Ryan Sachire/Trent Miller (ND) 8-5

Singles:
No. 1: Sachire (ND) def. Tedesco (NC) 7-5, 6-2
No. 2: Phillips (NC) def. Pietrowski (ND) 7-6, 7-6
No. 3: Harsanyi (NC) def. Patterson (ND) 6-3, 6-0
No. 4: Thomas (NC) def. Simme (ND) 6-2, 6-2
No. 5: Rothschild (ND) def. Gordon (NC) 6-2, 6-2
No. 6: Eric Enloe (ND) def. Adam McNab (NC) 6-3, 6-4