Jan. 22, 2005
The 21st-ranked University of Notre Dame women’s tennis team opens the dual-match portion of the 2004-05 season this weekend, as the Irish first travel to #49 Ohio State (0-0) for a Noon (EST) match on Saturday before welcoming #6 Vanderbilt (2-0) for a tussle between two top-25 teams on Sunday at Noon (EST) in the Eck Tennis Pavilion. The Irish return eight monogram winners and five starters from last year’s squad that was 12-12 and finished 27th in the national rankings.
ITA RANKINGS: Notre Dame is 21st in the preseason Intercollegiate Tennis Association national rankings released earlier this month. Additionally, sophomore twins Catrina Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) and Christian Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) were ranked second in the national doubles rankings, the highest-ever listing for an Irish team. Catrina Thompson was ranked a career-high 69th in singles, while freshman Brook Buck (Yukon, Okla./Oklahoma Christian School) entered the singles rankings at 85th.
IRISH vs. COMMODORES: Vanderbilt is #6 in the first set of Intercollegiate Tennis Association national rankings, and the Commodores opened the dual-match season last weekend by defeating Michigan State (7-0) and #55 Virginia (5-2). VU will play at #20 Michigan on Saturday morning before heading to the Eck Tennis Pavilion. The `Dores return three starters from last year’s squad that was 26-4 and reached the semifinals of the NCAA Championship before losing to eventual national champion Stanford to end a program-best #2 in the rankings. Vanderbilt finished first in the Southeastern Conference’s Southeast Division and then lost to Florida in the title match of the league tournament. Gone from that team are Kelly Schmandt and Aleke Tsoubanos, who finished ranked #2 in the nation in doubles after reaching the semifinals of the NCAA tournament. They were also both ranked in singles (Schmandt 50th, Tsoubanos 93rd). VU is led by seniors Audra Falk, who reached the quarterfinals of last year’s NCAA Singles Championship and finished ninth in the nation. She was a career-high #5 in the preseason rankings, but a 3-2 fall has seen her slip to 38th. Sophomore Amanda Fish was 90th in the preseason in singles, but she is now 116th after going 6-4 in the fall campaign. In doubles, Fish and freshman Taka Bertrand stand 7-3 and are ranked 20th, while Falk and senior Annie Menees – who ended last season 55th – are 35th with a 7-3 record together. Head coach Geoff Macdonald is in his 11th season leading the Commodores, having compiled a 219-68 (.763) record. In his 17th year overall as a head coach, he holds a 333-105 (.760) mark.
Notre Dame and Vanderbilt will meet for the sixth time overall, with the Commodores holding a 4-1 edge in the all-time series. The Irish prevailed in the first-ever contest between the schools, winning 5-4 in the 1996 Federated Insurance Court Classic in Minneapolis, Minn. Since then, VU has taken every meeting, with the first three coming in the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championship (5-0 in ’97, 5-4 in ’98, 5-2 in ’02). The most recent encounter came in the second round of the 2003 NCAA Championship at Vanderbilt, when the Commodores registered a 4-0 decision. This will be Vanderbilt’s first-ever trip to Notre Dame and the first time the schools have met in a scheduled regular-season contest. This will be the fifth time in as many meetings that both teams have been ranked in the national top 25 at the time of the match and the third time in a row that the Commodores are ranked higher.
In the most recent match, Menees and Kori Scott defeated Caylan Leslie and Jennifer Smith 8-5 in the final match on court to give Vanderbilt the doubles point, and the Commodores then gained straight-set victories at each of the bottom three positions. Vanderbilt was up a set in two of the three abandoned matches. The highlight of the match for the Irish was Lauren Connelly and Alicia Salas upsetting the #3 doubles team in the nation, Sarah Riske and Aleke Tsoubanos, 8-4 at No. 1.