April 23, 2000

MIAMI, Fla. — The 29th-ranked Notre Dame men’s tennis team won the doubles point but won only one of six singles matches in falling 5-2 to top-seeded and 21st-ranked Miami in final of the BIG EAST Championships at the Neil Schiff Tennis Complex in Miami, Fla. Senior All-American Ryan Sachire — the only singles winner for the Irish — was named the Championship’s most outstanding player for the second consecutive year. The loss drops the Irish to 12-10 on the season.

The Irish started the match by winning the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead heading into singles. Junior Matt Daly and sophomore Casey Smith beat Mark Arrowsmith and Joel Berman 8-1 at No. 3 doubles. The 30th-ranked team of Irish sophomores Javier Taborga and Aaron Talarico then clinched the point with an 8-4 win over 40th-ranked Peter Hoffman and Tomas Smid. Sachire and senior Trent Miller had their No. 2 doubles match abandoned at 6-7.

Sachire then made it 2-0 when he beat Smid 6-1, 6-2 at No. 1 singles. The win improved his record to 30-9 to become the first Irish player under 13th-year head coach Bob Bayliss to win at least 30 singles matches all four years. Miami then won in straight sets at No. 4-6 singles to take a 3-2 lead. Notre Dame, which rallied from 2-3 down to Miami in winning the 1999 BIG EAST Championship, lost in three sets at both No. 2 and No. 3 singles after winning the first set in each for the 5-2 loss.

#21 MIAMI 5, #29 NOTRE DAME 2

Singles

No. 1: #10 Ryan Sachire (ND) def. Tomas Smid (M) 6-1, 6-2

No. 2: Peter Hoffman (M) def. Matt Daly (ND) 1-6, 6-4, 6-2

No. 3: Johan Lindquist (M) def. Casey Smith (ND) 3-6, 7-5, 6-2

No. 4: Michael Lang (M) def. Aaron Talarico (ND) 6-2, 6-2

No. 5: Jose Lieberman (M) def. Andrew Laflin (ND) 7-6 (4), 6-1

No. 6: Joel Berman (M) def. Trent Miller (ND) 6-2, 6-4

Doubles

No. 1: #30 Taborga/Talarico (ND) def. #40 Hoffman/Smid (M) 8-4

No. 2: Miller/Sachire (ND) vs. Lang/Lieberman (M) 6-7, abandoned

No. 3: Daly/Smith (ND) def. Mark Arrowsmith/Berman (M) 8-1