Miami Falls to Notre Dame, 4-3, in Conference Final
April 25, 1999
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Top-seededNotre Dame rallied back on Miami twiceduring the 1999 BIG EAST Men’s Tennis Championship match, with thesecondtime earning the 31st-ranked Fighting Irish a 4-3 win and the 1999conference title at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center on the Universityof Miamicampus.
After losing the initialdoubles point to the Hurricanes, Notre Damecame within one point, trailing 3-2, of losing the entire match toUM andhanding the Hurricanes their third straight conference championshipandsixth overall since 1993.
ND’s Casey Smith then ralliedfrom a set down to Miami’s JoseLieberman at No. 4 singles and stretched the remaining two sets tosevengames before winning the three-set marathon 4-6, 7-5, 7-5. Smithwas down5-4 in the third and broke Lieberman’s serve twice to record the lengthywin. Smith’s win forced a deadlock between Miami and Notre Dameat 3-3.
ND’s Javier Taborga thenfought off Joel Berman, who was celebratinghis 19th birthday, in three sets to win 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 at No. 6 singles.Berman had forced the final set to 5-5, before Taborga broke the UMfreshman’s serve and eventually won the BIG EAST title for the Irishon hisown service.
The Notre Dame/Miami finalmarked the fourth straight year bothteams have met in the BIG EAST Championship as the No. 1 and 2 seededteams.
The Fighting Irish’ 1999 conference crown gives them their second sincewinning the title in their inaugural season playing in the BIG EASTin 1996.
Miami has played for orwon the league trophy every season since1993 and has won the title five times overall (1993, ’94, ’95, ’97,’98).
Following the match, NotreDame head coach Bobby Bayliss was namedthe league’s Coach of the Year for the second straight season, whileIrishtop-singles player Ryan Sachire was named the 1999 BIG EAST TournamentMostOutstanding Performer.
BOXSCORE
Doubles
No. 2?? Berman/Odry (UM) def. Trent Miller/Taborga (ND) 8-6
No. 3?? Ralph Hilt/Lieberman (UM) def. Smith/Daly (ND) 8-6
Singles
No. 1?? Ryan Sachire (ND) def. Arpad Odry (UM) 7-5, 6-3
No. 2?? Matt Daly (ND) def. Jamin Thompson (UM) 6-1, 6-3
No. 3?? Johan Lindqvist (UM) def. Andrew Laflin (ND) 6-2,
6-4?
No. 4?? Casey Smith (ND) def. Jose Lieberman (UM) 4-6, 7-5,
7-5
No. 5?? Mark Arrowsmith (UM) def. Andy Warford (ND) 7-5,
6-3
No. 6?? Javier Taborga (ND) def. Joel Berman (UM) 6-2, 5-7,
7-5
Final BIG EAST Standings
1.????? Notre Dame
2.????? Miami
3.????? St. John’s
4.????? Rutgers
5.????? West Virginia
6.????? Connecticut
7.????? Providence?
8.????? Boston College
9.????? Villanova
10.???? Georgetown
11.???? Seton Hall
