Irish junior Katie Potts was dominant in a 6-0, 6-0 singles win Sunday.

#16 Irish Breeze Past Marquette 7-0

April 13, 2008

Complete Results

For the second time in three days, the Notre Dame women’s tennis team cruised to a shutout victory over a Big East foe as they defeated Marquette 7-0 Sunday morning in the Eck Tennis Pavilion. The Irish made short work of the Golden Eagles and finished the regular season with an 18-8 mark.

Katie Potts and Kelcy Tefft highlighted singles play with 6-0, 6-0 wins at the top and bottom of the singles lineup. Potts posted her bagel over Maggie Wilson at No. 6 while Tefft earned her shutout win over Erin Watkins at No. 1. Both Irish juniors looked primed for postseason play in dominant wins. Potts became the fifth member of the Irish to reach 20 singles wins as she improved her mark to 20-9. Tefft, meanwhile, became the second member of the team to earn 20 dual singles wins as she is 20-5 this spring and 24-8 overall.

The clinching point for Notre Dame was provided by Cosmina Ciobanu who bested Cristina Ruiz 6-1, 6-1. The Irish sophomore made quick work of the Marquette freshman and improved to 25-15 on the year. Ciobanu is one of two Notre Dame players with 25 or more singles wins, a feat the Irish sophomore has accomplished in both of her seasons on the team.

Brook Buck, playing in her final regular season home match, went out in style, downing Maria Calbeto by a familiar 6-1, 6-1 count. Buck, who won for the eighth time in nine matches, ran her team-best winning streak to four matches. The Irish captain is now 17-15 on the year.

Colleen Rielley and Kali Krisik rounded out the Notre Dame scoring with wins at No. 4 and 5 respectively. Krisik won for a team best 31st time in singles play and 22nd time this spring when she triumphed over Robin Metzler 6-0, 6-2. Rielley upended Rachael Hush 7-5, 6-3 in the closest singles match of the day. The Notre Dame sophomore improved to 20-13 on the year and posted her seventh win in her last nine matches.

The Irish claimed the doubles point for the eleventh match in a row with a sweep of the Golden Eagles. Buck and Tefft improved their record to a remarkable 32-5 this season with an 8-0 shutout of Lauren Little and Shannon Brown. The duo has now earned ten wins in eleven matches since earning the #1 national ranking.

Rielley and Ciobanu rebounded from a rare loss Friday against DePaul with a convincing 8-3 win over Ruiz and Calbeto at No. 2. With an 18-2 mark, the Irish sophomores have the highest doubles winning percentage on the team.

Kristen Rafael and Krisik improved to 3-0 at the No. 3 position and 8-6 overall with an 8-4 win over Hush and Watkins in the day’s closest doubles contest. The pair won both of their matches this weekend and finished the regular season winning six of their final ten matches together.

With the regular season completed, the Irish will look to duplicate recent postseason success beginning with the Big East Tournament beginning Friday in Tampa. The Irish, likely the No. 1 seed with the highest ranking in the conference and a perfect Big East mark, will open play against the winner of Thursday’s 8/9 contest. The draw has not yet been released, but full coverage of the tournament and a complete tournament notes package will be available on und.com later this week. The Irish have captured the Big East title seven times, but were upset 4-3 in last year’s final by host South Florida.