Irish shut down opponents, improve record to 7-3
By RACHEL BIBER
Sports Writer
You can bet the Irish ate their spinach before they headed into the weekend's competition.
Notre Dame muscled up and surrendered only two points between the two matches they played, beating both Northwestern and 63rd-ranked Purdue 6-1 and improving its dual-match record to 7-3.
Saturday's matchup against the Purdue Boilermakers marked the last time the Irish would play at home this season, but they gave the crowd a grand finale by destroying any Boilermakers attempt at victory. The Notre Dame win marked the 10th straight time Notre Dame has topped Purdue.
Seniors Ryan Sachire and Trent Miller quickly fired up the Irish squad by racing to a 3-0 lead in No. 2 doubles, giving up only one point in the process. The pair never looked back, running away with an 8-3 victory over Purdue's Scott Mayer and Carl McCafferty.
The Boilermakers evened out the score in doubles when Derek Miller and Laith Al-Agba edged out the Irish's James Malhame and Ashok Raju 9-8 (7-1) at No. 3 doubles.
The 53rd-ranked Irish duo of Aaron Talarico and Javier Taborga then clinched the doubles point at No. 1 doubles by topping the Boilermakers' threatening 50th-ranked team of Jason Marshall and Andrew Wakefield. Down 6-7, the Irish pairing was able to break Marshall's serve to stay alive and claim victory 8-6, and improved to 11-5 with their fourth straight win.
Purdue coach Tim Madden was stunned by the energy and aggressiveness displayed by Notre Dame at the start of the match.
"Notre Dame's doubles teams had energy like we haven't seen this year," Madden said. "They hit us off the court early on and that really set the tone for the match. That lingered on throughout singles."
Notre Dame tallied a 4-0 lead over Purdue with wins by Sachire, Talarico, and Andrew Laflin at the Nos. 1, 5 and 6 singles matches, respectively.
Seventeenth-ranked Sachire left little room for hope of victory for his 62nd-ranked opponent Marshall by taking away the first seven games of the match before closing out the match 6-0, 6-4.
Casey Smith followed up his Irish teammates by posting a 6-4, 6-3 win at No. 3 singles, while Matt Daly finished the scoring for the Irish by defeating the Boilermakers' Derek Miller, brother of Irish senior Trent Miller, 6-3, 6-4 at the No.2 singles spot.
The Boilermakers were able to salvage one point when Andrew Wakefield came away with victory over the Irish' Taborga 6-4, 6-3 at No. 4 singles.
Notre Dame's fiery style of play was not extinguished during its travels for Sunday's battle against the Northwestern Wildcats, as the Irish again effectively shut out their opponents.
Notre Dame's doubles team of Sachire and Miller again started the winning ways for the Irish by speeding to an 8-3 win at No.2 doubles before Malhame and Smith clinched the doubles point with an 8-6 win in the No. 3 match.
Notre Dame's Taborga and Talarico continued their winning streak and completed the sweep of the doubles for Notre Dame by squeaking past Northwestern's 44th-ranked pairing of Joost Hol and Brad Erickson 9-8 (7-1). With the win, Taborga and Talarico improved to 12-5 on the year and preserved a five match unbeaten streak.
All-American Sachire tallied another singles win by downing Erickson 6-2, 6-3 in the No. 1 match, improving to 22-6 on the year. Smith and Laflin chipped in two more points for the Irish by posting wins at No. 3 and 5 singles respectively. Laflin rallied for the win by regrouping after the first set and coming back in a dominant fashion to take the match 3-6, 6-0, 6-2.
In the No. 2 singles match, Notre Dame's Daly proved he is coming back strong from a shoulder injury by capturing victory 6-4, 6-3, while Brian Farrell wrapped up a win in the No. 6 match 6-4, 6-1. The lone Northwestern point came when Notre Dame's Taborga was defeated at No. 4 singles 6-3, 6-3.
The Irish return to action Friday, when they travel to California to participate in the Pacific Coast Doubles tournament.
All Sports Stories for Tuesday, February 29, 2000
