January 19, 1997

Notre Dame Men’s Tennis Opens 1997 Season with 7-0 Win at Ohio State

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Notre Dame’s men’s tennis team opened its 1997 season with a 7-0 win at Ohio State on Sunday. A balanced singles lineup consisting of a freshman, junior, sophomore and senior in the top four singles spots each won in straight sets to pace the Irish.

Freshman Ryan Sachire started at No. 1 singles for the Irish in his first match and rolled to a 6-2, 6-1 win over Scott Wiles. Sophomore Jakub Pietrowski won at No. 2 by a 6-1, 7-6 score against Vo Chu while sophomore Brian Patterson beat Mark Wuryzman 6-3, 6-2. Doubles partners Ryan Simme, a senior, and junior Dan Rothschild won at Nos. 4 and 5 singles with straight-set wins. Junior Vijay Freeman dropped the first set 5-7, before winning the set 7-6 and was leading 3-1 in the third set when Pari Laxminarayan was forced to retire as the Irish won all six singles matches.

Notre Dame opened the contest by sweeping the double competition to take a 1-0 lead heading into singles. Patterson and Pietrowski teamed for an 8-3 win at No. 1 doubles and the Rothschild-Simme pair won 8-6. Sachire teamed with fellow freshman Trent Miller to win 8-4 at No. 3 doubles.

The Irish return to the court on Tues., Jan. 21 with a 2:30 p.m. match at Wisconsin. Notre Dame opens its 1997 home season with a 12:00 p.m. contest on Jan. 25 against Miami (Ohio) at the Eck Tennis Pavilion.