Oct. 1, 2007
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Sophomore Cosmina Ciobanu (Brea, CA) and junior Katie Potts (Brookfield, WI) captured the Maize and Blue singles’ draws, respectively, to highlight Notre Dame’s weekend at the Wolverine Invitational. Sophomore Kali Krisik (Arkansas City, KS) and junior Kelcy Tefft (Enid, OK) also won the doubles draw.
Ciobanu finished the weekend with a perfect 4-0 record. In fact, each of her four victories came in straight sets. Ciobanu opened the weekend with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Yumi Matsuto of Western Michigan. She then knocked off Rika Tatsuno of Michigan, 7-6 (2), 7-5 to earn a berth into semifinals and set up a match with teammate Tefft for a spot in the title match. Ciobanu got past Tefft in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2. She was forced to play another teammate, sophomore Colleen Rielley, in the finals. Ciobanu, who lost to Rielley in last season’s ITA Midwest Region final, came away with a 6-0, 6-0 straight-set triumph in the Maize final. Ciobanu improved to 6-1 on the season and 42-6 in her career.
Potts went 4-0 over the weekend, including three straight-set victories. Potts opened her weekend with a 6-0, 6-1 triumph over Yuka Kobayashi of Western Michigan. After another straight-set victory (6-1, 6-3) over Elly Strother of Marquette, Potts needed three sets to get past Denise Muresan of Michigan. She opened the match with a 6-4 win in the first set, but dropped the second set, 6-3, before winning a super tie-breaker, 8-6, to secure a spot in the finals. Potts then upended Kari Wig of Michigan, 6-4, 6-0, for the Blue title. Potts is now 4-0 on the season and 49-14 over her career.
Krisik and Tefft cruised to the doubles’ draw championship. They opened the invitational with an 8-1 rout of Anna Dzeva and Stephanie Wooten from Purdue. Krisik and Tefft followed with an 8-2 victory over Michigan’s Lindsey Howard and Kari Wig. The duo advanced into the draw finals with an 8-6 win over Shannon Brown and Maria Calbeto from Marquette. In the title match, Krisik and Tefft upended Tania Mahtani and Whitney Taney of Michigan, 8-2. Krisik and Tefft improved to 4-0 on the year and 11-0 for their career.
Rielley (Overland Park, KS) went 3-1 over the weekend. She knocked off Stephanie Wooten of Purdue, Ashley Moccia of Western Michigan and Chisako Sugiyama of Michigan. Rielley now stands 6-1 on the year and 36-12 for her career.
Tefft finished the weekend with a 2-1 mark. She defeated Noriko Saruta of Western Michigan, 6-3, 6-3 and Tania Mahtani of Michigan, 4-6, 7-5 1-0 (2). Tefft is now 2-1 on the season and 56-15 in her career.
Freshman Denise Ellison (Bakersfield, CA) and Kristen Rafael () each went 2-2 over the weekend. Rafael is now 5-2 this year, while Ellison is 3-4.
Krisik, who reached the semifinals of the Blue draw, captured third place. She went 3-1 over the weekend with each of her three wins coming in straight sets. Krisik opened the invitational with back-to-back routs of Anna Dzeva of Purdue (6-4, 6-1) and Christina Ruiz of Marquette (6-3, 6-0). After dropping a three-set match to Michigan’s Wig (6-2, 2-6, 1-0 [8]), Krisik knocked off Muresan of Michigan, 6-4, 6-4. Krisik improved to 6-1 on the year and 22-6 for her career.
Rafael and Rielley, as well as Ciobanu and Potts, each went 3-1 in doubles action, while Ellison and senior Bailey Louderback (South Bend, IN) went 0-3.
In all, the Irish finished the weekend with a 20-7 singles record and 10-5 doubles mark.
— ND —