Sept. 29, 2000

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Notre Dame junior women’s tennis player Nina Vaughan and 82nd-ranked freshman Caylan Leslie posted singles wins in the top singles flight on the first of three days of the Eck Classic at the Courtney Tennis Center. Vaughan rallied from 2-4 in the second set after losing the first set to beat Purdue’s Erika Quebe 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the first round of Flight A singles. Leslie rolled to a 6-0, 6-0 win over DePaul’s Szilvia Keleman to improve to 5-0 in her brief college career. Vaughan will meet Northwestern’s Shannon Duffy, while Leslie will face Iowa’s Cassie Haas on Saturday when play resumes with the second round at 9:00 a.m.

Irish senior Kimberly Guy also advanced in singles, beating Western Michigan’s Meaghan Colville 6-0, 6-1 in the Flight B singles. She will play Iowa’s Erica Johnson in the second round. Irish junior Lindsey Green lost 6-4, 6-2 to Marquette’s Genvieve Charron in the A first round, while sophomore Katie Cunha lost 6-4, 6-1 in the B first round. Freshmen Emily Neighbours and Alicia Salas dropped first-round, three-set matches in Flight C, while junior Berica Day lost in Flight D. Junior Michelle Hamilton fell in Flight E. Irish senior All-American and 18th-ranked Michelle Dasso and 78th-ranked junior Becky Varnum are not competing this weekend.

In the doubles competition, Vaughan and Salas paired up to reach the semifinals of Flight A doubles, beating Northwestern’s Simona Petrutiu and Marine Piriou and Marquette’s Charron and Anabelle Espinosa both by 8-4 scores. They will meet Wisconsin’s April Gabler and Linde Mues — 8-5 second-round winners over Green and Leslie — in the semifinals. The 14th-ranked team of Cunha and Guy won 9-7 in the first round before falling to Western Michigan’s Larissa Chinwah and Colville 9-7 in the second round of A doubles.