Notre Dame squeks past Ohio State, 4-3
By RACHEL BIBER
Sports Writer
Visiting No. 54 Ohio State brought its best tennis to town on Saturday with a match-up against No. 38 Notre Dame, but the Irish squeaked by the Buckeyes with a 4-3 victory, improving their dual-match record to 4-2.
Notre Dame captured the doubles point with two close wins in the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles matches. Ohio State's Derek DeFalco and Bob Wellstein quickly showed strength in the doubles field, leading off with an 8-4 win over Notre Dame's Casey Smith and James Malhame.
The Irish swooped back with a stunning rally from Ryan Sachire and Trent Miller at No. 2 doubles, who overcame a 3-6 deficit to defeat Ohio State's Phillip Metz and B.J. Munroe, 9-7.
Notre Dame's 48th-ranked duo of Javier Taborga and Aaron Talarico then clinched the doubles point for the Irish with an impressive win over the Buckeyes' 36th-ranked team of Andrew Carlson and Chris Porter in the No. 1 doubles matchup 9-8 (7-5). The Irish finished off the tiebreaker with a solid putaway by Taborga, satisfying the home crowd.
Irish coach Bob Bayliss was impressed with his squad's ability to mount a comeback in the doubles matches, but he wishes that they would begin with the same intensity.
"It was pretty rewarding to see us come back, but I was disappointed to be in that position," Bayliss said. "It speaks well for our comeback, but we need to develop a sense of urgency in our matches."
Ohio State, which fell to 4-1 with the defeat, shook up its singles lineup to throw off the rhythm of a solid Irish attack; the strategy almost proved successful. The Buckeyes unexpectedly sent Carlson to face the Irish's 14th-ranked All-American Sachire in the top singles match, while normal No. 1 player, 62nd-ranked Porter, was matched against the Irish's Smith at No. 2 singles.
"I think that was a lineup switch that helped," Bayliss said. "I wouldn't be surprised to see Porter [of Ohio State] at No. 1 for the rest of the year."
Sachire quickly boosted the Notre Dame lead to 2-0 with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Ohio State's Carlson. The Buckeyes then cut the deficit in half when Metz defeated the Irish's Taborga, 6-4, 7-5, at No. 3 singles, after trailing 1-5 in the second set.
Ohio State leveled out the score when Porter reeled off 12 straight games to defeat Notre Dame's Smith in the No. 2 singles match, 5-7, 6-0, 6-0. The Irish's Talarico then held on to defeat the Buckeyes' Vincent Ng 6-1, 7-6 (7-3) at No. 4 singles, giving him three consecutive singles wins and notching the Irish lead to 3-2 in the match.
"I thought Aaron handled the pressure of his match pretty well," Bayliss said. "He has become a real stopper for us."
Andrew Laflin then provided the clinching win at No. 5 singles for the Irish by defeating the Buckeyes' DeFalco in a tight three-set match 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. At 3-3 in the third set, Laflin broke his opponent's serve, and held serve twice to lock up the victory.
Not realizing the importance of his match, Laflin kept his focus on his opponent and regrouped to take the third set.
"I just wanted to keep focused," Laflin said. "I had no idea what the stakes were. I was a little shaky at the beginning of the third set, but I took a deep breath and I played a lot better in the [end]."
The Buckeyes closed out the match with a win when Wellstein defeated the Irish's Brian Farrell in the No. 6 singles match 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, making the official score 4-3 in Notre Dame's favor. Farrell again filled in for the Irish's injured, 65th-ranked and No. 2 singles player Matt Daly, who continues to be held back by a shoulder injury.
By managing to come away from Saturday's matchup against the Buckeyes unscathed, Notre Dame extended a winning streak against Ohio State. With the win the Irish have now defeated the Buckeyes in 12 straight meetings.
All Sports Stories for Tuesday, February 15, 2000
