April 15, 1997

Notre Dame Ends Regular Season with Best Record in Five Years

Irish defeat Michigan 6-1 to Improve to 17-4

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Notre Dame’s 11th-ranked men’s tennis team closed out its best regular season in five years with a 6-1 win over Michigan at the Courtney Tennis Center on Tuesday. With the win, the Irish improve to 17-4 while Michigan falls to 7-11. The 17-4 regular season record is the best for Notre Dame since the 1992 team went 20-3 before reaching the NCAA finals and finishing 23-4. With the win over Michigan, the Irish improve to 8-2 overall and a perfect 5-0 at home versus the Wolverines under head coach Bobby Bayliss.

The Irish started the match with a sweep at all three doubles matches. Brian Patterson and Jakub Pietrowski won 8-2 at No. 1 doubles, Trent Miller and Ryan Sachire won 8-4 at No. 2 and Dan Rothschild and Ryan Simme won 8-3 at No. 3 to give Notre Dame a 1-0 lead heading into singles.

Notre Dame cruised through singles almost as easily as it rolled through doubles as five singles players lost just one set combined. Sachire and Rothschild, with the top singles records on the team, continued their impressive singles seasons as Sachire won 7-5, 6-4 at No. 1 singles to up his season dual match record to 18-3. Rothschild cruised to a 6-4, 6-1 win at No. 5 singles to improve to 15-5 on the season.

Pietrowski won the first set 6-2 before Michigan’s Arvid Swan retired before the second set at No. 2 singles. Simme won a first set tiebreaker and then 6-3 in the second set to beat Will Farah at No. 3 singles. Patterson won the first set 6-1 before falling 2-6 in the second set to Michigan’s Brian McFarland. He then recovered to win the deciding set 6-3 at No. 4 singles. Michigan won its only point of the match as John Long outlasted Eric Enloe 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 at No. 6 singles.

The Irish travel to Miami, Fla., as they return to the court looking to defend their 1996 BIG EAST title. The University of Miami will play host to the conference championships April 17-20. Top-seeded Notre Dame receives a bye in the first round and will face the Connecticut-Boston College winner on Friday.

Notre Dame 6, Michigan 1
Singles
No. 1: Ryan Sachire (ND) def. Matt Wright (UM) 7-5, 6-4
No. 2: Jakub Pietrowski (ND) def. Arvid Swan (UM) 6-2, ret.
No. 3: Ryan Simme (ND) def. Will Farah (UM) 7-6, 6-3
No. 4: Brian Patterson (ND) def. Brad McFarland (UM) 6-1, 2-6, 6-3
No. 5: Dan Rothschild (ND) def. Miki Pusztai (UM) 6-4, 6-1
No. 6: John Long (UM) def. Eric Enloe (ND) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4

Doubles
No. 1: Patterson/Pietrowski (ND) def. Swan/McFarland (UM) 8-2
No. 2: Trent Miller/Sachire (ND) def. Wright/Pusztai (UM) 8-4
No. 3: Rothschild/Simme (ND) def. Long/Farah (UM) 8-3