Feb. 27, 1997

Notre Dame Nets Another Victory

EAST LANSING, Mich. – The tension in the MSU Tennis FacilityWednesday night was likened to a balloon stretched to capacity withair. But just as a single pop of the balloon instantly deflates it,Michigan State’s high instantly vanished as No. 29 Notre Dame won theNo. 6 singles position and clinched the match, 5-2.

The No. 5 and No. 6 singles players together battled it out in thethird and deciding set looking to determine a winner. Notre Dameneeded one win, while No. 69 Michigan State needed both. Unfortunatelyfor the Spartans, MSU dropped its fourth straight to fall to 4-5,while Notre Dame improved to 9-2.

Notre Dame, ranked No. 2 in Region IV, came out and took two out ofthe three doubles matches to go up 1-0 early. The singles matches,however, were back and forth.

“This is the best prepared team we’ve played all year,” said NotreDame head coach Boby Bayliss. “We played Illinois (ranked No. 1 in theregion) earlier in the season and we had third-set tie breaks withthem, but they were nothing compared to this team.”

Notre Dame 5, Michigan State 2

Doubles:
No. 1: Pietrowski/Patterson (ND) def. Trinidad/Kigongo (MS) 8-4
No. 2: Struck/Eubanks (MS) def. Simme/Rothschild (ND) 8-3
No. 3: Sachire/Miller (ND) def. Lender/Hetzler (MS) 8-4

Singles:
No. 1: Eubanks (MS) def. Pietrowski (ND) 6-4, 7-6 (4)
No. 2: Sachiere (ND) def. Hetzler (MS) 6-3, 6-2
No. 3: Murray (MS) def. Patterson (ND) 7-5 (5), 6-2
No. 4: Simme (ND) def. Jacobsen (MS) 7-5, 6-1
No. 5: Rothschild (ND) def. Primdeal (MS) 6-4, 2-6 7-6 (5)
No. 6: Enloe (ND) def. Trinidad (MS) 6-3, 2-6, 6-4