February 13, 1999

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The 10th-ranked Duke men's tennis team won the doubles point and swept the singles to handle 24th-ranked Notre Dame a 7-0 loss on Saturday at the Eck Tennis Pavilion. The Irish fall to 3-3 with the loss, while the Blue Devils improve to 2-0.

Duke started the match with wins at Nos. 1 and 3 doubles to win the doubles point. Pedro Escudero and Doug Root beat Brian Patterson and Ryan Sachire 8-5 at No. 1 doubles, and Porter Jones and Ted Rueger downed Matt Daly and Casey Smith 8-5 at No. 3 doubles. Notre Dame's Matt Horsley and Trent Miller beat Dmitry Muzyka and Jordan Wile 8-4 at No. 2 doubles.

Muzyka, Andres Pedroso, Jones and Marko Cerenko all won straight set matches at Nos. 3-6 singles to clinch the match for Duke, which had lost to the Irish 4-3 in 1997 and 1998 dual matches. Duke then won a pair of three set matches at Nos. 1 and 2 singles to complete the sweep. Root, ranked 49th in the country, held on for a 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 win over third-ranked Sachire at No. 1 singles, while Escudero beat Patterson 7-5, 2-6, 7-5 at No. 2 singles.

Notre Dame returns to the court on Sat., Feb. 20, to take on 37th-ranked Northwestern at the Eck Tennis Pavilion at 1:00 p.m.

#10 DUKE 7, #24 NOTRE DAME 0

Singles
No. 1: #49 Doug Root (DU) def. #3 Ryan Sachire (ND) 6-3, 2-6, 6-3
No. 2: Pedro Escudero (DU) def. Brian Patterson (ND) 7-5, 2-6, 7-5
No. 3: Dmitry Muzyka (DU) def. Matt Daly (ND) 6-0, 6-3
No. 4: Andres Pedroso (DU) def. Andy Warford (ND) 6-0, 6-1
No. 5: Porter Jones (DU) def. Casey Smith (ND) 6-3, 6-2
No. 6: Marko Cerenko (DU) def. Mark Overdevest (ND) 7-6 (6), 6-1

Doubles
No. 1: Escudero/Root (DU) def. Patterson/Sachire (ND) 8-5
No. 2: Matt Horsley/Trent Miller (ND) def. Muzyka/Jordan Wile (DU) 8-4
No. 3: Jones/Ted Rueger (DU) def. Daly/Smith (ND) 8-5