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Dasso Advances, Doubles Falls At Clay Court Championships

Sept. 22, 2000

PIKESVILLE, Md. – Notre Dame senior women’s tennis All-American Michelle Dasso won two matches Friday to advance to the singles semifinals at the T. Rowe Price National Intercollegiate Clay Court Championships, the opening leg of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association grand slam at the Suburban Club of Baltimore County in Pikesville, Md.

The fifth-seeded and 18th-ranked Dasso lost the first set for the second consecutive match before rallying for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over Wake Forest’s 31st-ranked Janet Bergman in the second round in her first match on Friday. In the quarters, Dasso knocked off Mississippi’s 44th-ranked Mira Radu — who upset Baylor’s 13th-ranked and second-seeded Jahnavi Parekh in her first match on Friday — in a third set tiebreaker 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (9-7), marking her third straight three-set victory.

One of just two seeded players remaining, Dasso will take on unseeded Anna Monhartova of Tulane at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday. The other semifinal features third-seeded Bea Bielik of Wake Forest facing Mississippi’s Julie DeRoo. The semifinal appearance marks the best singles grand slam result for Dasso, bettering the quarterfinal appearances she made at the T. Rowe Price National Intercollegiate Clay Court Championships in 1998 and 1999.

In doubles action, the eighth-ranked and third-seeded Irish doubles team of Dasso and junior Becky Varnum lost to VCU’s 17th-ranked Martina Nedelkova and Andrea Ondrisova in the second round on Friday 6-0, 4-6, 6-3.

T. Rowe Price National Intercollegiate Clay Court Championships

Singles

Second Round: #18 Michelle Dasso (ND) def. #31 Janet Bergman (Wake Forest) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3

Quarterfinals: #18 Michelle Dasso (ND) def. #44 Mira Radu (Mississippi) 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (9-7)

Doubles

Second Round: #17 Martina Nedelkova/Andrea Ondrisova (VCU) def. #8 Dasso/Becky Varnum (ND) 6-0, 4-6, 6-3

–ND–