May 24, 2004
Notre Dame senior co-captain Alicia Salas (Englewood, Colo./Cherry Creek H.S.) has withdrawn from the NCAA Singles Championship due to a foot injury that hampered her over the last few weeks of the season. Freshman twins Christian Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) and Catrina Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.), the only two Irish players whose season has not yet concluded, will open play in the NCAA Doubles Championship on Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. against a team from Illinois.
Salas first felt pain on the bottom of her right foot earlier this month, and she aggravated the injury in the second round of the NCAA Team Championship on May 16 against #9 Northwestern. Following that match, doctors advised her to stay off of the foot for two weeks to let it heal. She has returned to her home in Colorado and hopes to return to the court in the next week or so in order to prepare for her trip to China, slated for June 13-21, as part of the American Express Collegiate All-Star Team that will take part in a pair of exhibition matches. She was one of five female players selected by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association to take part in the trip.
Salas, who earned her second consecutive berth to the NCAA singles tournament and is just the fourth Irish player ever to qualify for each leg of the collegiate grand slam in a season, concluded her final campaign with a 24-17 record, including 15 wins over ranked opponents, six of them vs. top-30 players. She is currently ranked 22nd after peaking at a career-high 10th earlier this spring. If she finishes in the top 20 of the final ITA national rankings – still a possibility, depending on other players’ results this week – Salas will be named an All-American. In doubles, she was 24-7, including 18-5 in dual matches at No. 2. Salas finished her career with a 95-42 singles record and an 83-38 mark in doubles.
The Thompsons, the first all-freshman team to be invited to the NCAA doubles tournament since 1998, will face the 15th-ranked team of Cynthya Goulet and Jennifer McGaffigan of Illinois in Tuesday’s first round. The Illini team beat the Irish twins, currently ranked 36th, 8-3 in the quarterfinals of last fall’s ITA Midwest Championships and by an 8-6 score at No. 1 in dual-match action in March. The winner of that match will advance to Wednesday’s second round to play either the tournament’s #1 seed, top-ranked Lauren Barnikow and Erin Burdette of Stanford, or 26th-ranked Megan Muth and Amy Wei of William & Mary. The Tribe duo beat the Thompsons 8-2 in dual-match play in April.