February 24, 1999

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The 24th-ranked Notre Dame men’s tennis team blanked Iowa 7-0 on Wednesday at the Eck Tennis Pavilion as the Irish won the doubles point and swept the singles for the win. Notre Dame improves to 5-4 while Iowa falls to 4-2. Second-ranked Ryan Sachire completed the win for the Irish as he hung for a 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 7-6 (7-1) win over Tyler Cleveland at No. 1 singles in the final match.

Notre Dame claimed the doubles point with wins at Nos. 1 and 3 doubles. The freshman team of Javier Taborga and Aaron Talarico, playing in their first dual match in doubles, beat Ben Bamsey and J.R. Chidley 8-3 at No. 3 doubles. Sachire and Brian Patterson beat Jason Dunn and Ulf Jentler 8-4 at No. 1 doubles to clinch the point. Cleveland and Thomas Buetikofer beat Trent Miller and Andy Warford 8-5 at No. 2 doubles.

The Irish opened singles with three straight-set wins to clinch the match 4-0. Patterson beat Thomas Buetikofer 6-2, 6-2 at No. 2 singles just before Casey Smith downed Jentler 6-1, 6-3 at No. 5 singles. Freshman Andrew Laflin, who had not lost a set in one match at No. 5 singles and five matches at No. 6 singles, moved up to No. 4 singles and continued his impressive beginning to 1999 with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Petar Mandic to clinch the win for the Irish.

Notre Dame then hung on for three wins in three-set matches. Warford won 6-0, 4-6, 6-1 over Dunn at No. 6 singles, and Matt Daly rallied for a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over Chidley. Sachire completed the win with his three-set win to improve to 10-1 in dual matches. Cleveland twice saved a pair of set points serving at 5-6 in both the first and third sets to force each set into a tiebreaker. Sachire jumped out to quick leads in both with leads of 6-3 in their first tiebreaker and 6-0 in the second tiebreaker.

Notre Dame returns to the court on Fri., Feb. 26, to take on 43rd-ranked Boise State at the Eck Tennis Pavilion at 3:00 p.m.

#24 NOTRE DAME 7, IOWA 0

Singles

No. 1: #2 Ryan Sachire (ND) def. Tyler Cleveland (I)    7-6 (5), 3-6, 7-6 (1)No. 2: Brian Patterson (ND) def. Thomas Buetikofer (I)  6-2, 6-2No. 3: Matt Daly (ND) def. J.R. Chidley (I)             4-6, 6-4, 6-2No. 4: Andrew Laflin (ND) def. Petar Mandic (I)         6-4, 6-2No. 5: Casey Smith (ND) def. Ulf Jentler (I)            6-1, 6-3No. 6: Andy Warford (ND) def. Jason Dunn (I)            6-0, 4-6, 6-1

Doubles

No. 1: Patterson/Sachire (ND) def. Dunn/Jentler (I)                   8-4No. 2: Buetikofer/Cleveland (I) def. Trent Miller/Warford (ND)        8-5No. 3: Javier Taborga/Aaron Talarico (ND) def. Ben Bamsey/Chidley (I) 8-3