MEN'S TENNIS: No. 14 Irish hope to eliminate Illini in rematch
By JOE LINDSLEY
Sports Writer
After beating Michigan and Purdue last weekend, the 14th-ranked Notre Dame men's tennis team partakes in the Round of 16 at the NCAA Championships at Texas A&M this weekend in College Station, Texas.
Consequently, the Irish are making their third encounter this season with Illinois, currently ranked third nationally.
For seniors Javier Taborga, Casey Smith, Aaron Talarico and Andrew Laflin, Saturday will be the last time they take on Illinois, with the match taking place on the same day as Notre Dame's commencement.
"We're really excited," Irish coach Bob Bayliss said. "[Illinois is] obviously one of the two or three best teams in the country, but we feel we can win. We'd like to prove that it wasn't a fluke beating them earlier."
Notre Dame split with Illinois during the regular season, with the Irish winning an outdoor match and the Illini winning indoors.
When Notre Dame defeated Illinois on March 7, the triumph was narrow, with the Irish snatching the victory because they won the tiebreaker for the doubles points. The singles matches were split evenly, and four of them were decided in three sets.
Just over a week later, the Illini sought and won revenge, striking the Irish, who were without the services of senior Talarico, with a 4-2 victory at the Blue-Gray Classic.
The Illini pose a challenge that partly stems from the momentum of their 13-match winning streak. That streak might have included their win over Notre Dame had the Illini not lost to No. 1 Georgia on March 22.
"I think we can win [on Saturday]," said Bayliss. "We'll have to play very well for the doubles point, [having] won it on a tie-breaker last time."
But Bayliss said losing the doubles point will not kill Notre Dame's hopes. Taborga, ranked 15th nationally, has never lost to Illinois' No. 1 player, Amer Delic, whom he will play on Saturday.
In addition, Bayliss believes Laflin, Smith, Talarico and sophomore Matt Scott will be able to avenge their earlier losses to Illinois players.
It is fitting that Notre Dame has the opportunity to play Illinois in the NCAA tournament, given that Bayliss considered the win over the Illini the proudest moment of a season in which Notre Dame tennis achieved its highest ranking since 1994.
A win on Saturday, allowing the Irish to move one step closer towards the national title, would probably surpass that March 7 victory as Notre Dame's best memory of the season.
Bayliss is confident in his players, calling this squad one of the better teams he has ever coached.
"In most teams, by the end of the season, you will have one or two dead spots in the lineup, where you know that that guy is not going to step up," he said. "We really don't have that."
A lack of holes in the lineup, along with the leadership and tenacity of seniors, has enabled the Irish to have a championship-caliber season, with only a few setbacks, the major one being the upset loss to No. 46 Michigan.
"I think dealing with the expectations that come from high rankings was our toughest challenge," Bayliss said. "We played pretty darn well in almost all of the matches with highly ranked teams. ... With the exception of Michigan, we were really able to keep our nose above the water and keep floating," Bayliss said.
All Sports Stories for Friday, May 17, 2002
