Sachire named championship's outstanding performer
By RACHEL BIBER
Sports Writer
CORAL GABLES, Fla.
After running his opponent off the court in dominating fashion in the No. 1 singles match against the University of Miami in the final match of the Big East tennis championships, the day's work was hardly over for All-American Ryan Sachire.
No. 10 Sachire quickly dispatched the Hurricanes' Tomas Smid 6-1, 6-2, with meticulously placed shots and a solid serve and volley game, and then used all of his remaining strength to try to rally his team to victory. When his feet are not shuffling along the baseline, they are pacing between the courts of his fellow teammates cheering them on in their on-court battles.
"I've been really proud of [Sachire] with what he's done and the way he has led the team off the court," Irish assistant coach Mike Morgan said. "He's just really raised the bar as far as putting in time and improving things that were his weaknesses. He always competes well and his skills have gone through the roof because of all the time he has put in."
With singles wins over Georgetown's Nick Sklavounos and Miami's Smid, Sachire secured his fourth 30-win season and boosts an unprecedented 30-9 record. Sachire is the first Irish men's tennis player under 13th-year head coach Bob Bayliss to win at least 30 singles matches in each year of his career at Notre Dame.
After posting a perfect singles performance in the previous Big East championships, Sachire remained undefeated again in 2000, and also earned honors for his play by garnering the award for Most Outstanding Performer in the tournament for the second consecutive year.
"Sachire had the performance of the tournament," Bayliss said. "He's been a rock for us all season."
Along with amassing a distinguished singles record during the 2000 season, Sachire has teamed up with fellow senior Trent Miller to provide the Irish a solid and dependable No. 2 doubles team. The duo went 2-0 in doubles play during the tournament by capturing victory over Georgetown and St. John's, improving their season record to 16-8.
Miller and Sachire have taken their seniority seriously, always pacing the team.
"Trent and Ryan have both done a fantastic job leading by example," Morgan said. "They make sure everyone knows what it takes to win."
When the dust had settled after Miami had slipped away with the win in the championship match, the experienced Sachire gathered his team on the court to give some advice about what it takes to win.
"I just basically told the team to remember this feeling and to not let it happen again in May [in the NCAA championships]," Sachire said. "Remember it for three weeks, because that is how much time we have before NCAA's. That is a lot of time, and we can get a lot better, and we pretty much need to get a lot better if we want to do as well as we think we can do."
Sachire's four-year career record now stands at 138-42 in singles and he has come away with victory in 40 of his last 47 dual matches at No. 1 singles. With numbers like those, Sachire's presence on and off the court will be sorely missed by his teammates
"He is as good as anyone in college tennis," Bayliss said earlier this season. "He is team-oriented first and foremost, and we are not going to replace Ryan next year — we know that."
All Sports Stories for Wednesday, April 26, 2000
