Nov. 6, 2000

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Senior All-American and top-seeded Michelle Dasso won a pair of straight-set matches to reach the singles semifinals at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Midwest Region Championships in Ann Arbor, Mich. She later teamed with junior Becky Varnum as the top-seeded and defending champion doubles duo won a pair of matches to advance to the semifinals. Three other Irish players reached the singles quarterfinals on Sunday before dropping quarterfinal matches. Notre Dame’s four players in the final eight of singles were the most of any school.

Dasso defeated Michigan’s Chrissie Nolan 7-5, 6-4 and Iowa’s Cassie Haas 6-4, 6-4 to set up a semifinal match with Northwestern’s fifth-seeded Colleen Cheng, who beat Irish junior Nina Vaughan 6-2, 6-1 in the quarterfinals. Vaughan had reached the final eight by upsetting Ohio State’s fourth-seeded Monica Rincon 6-4, 6-4.

In the bottom of the singles draw, Irish freshman Caylan Leslie downed Michigan’s Kavitha Tipirneni 6-2, 6-1 before falling to Northwestern’s sixth-seeded Lia Jackson 6-2, 6-0. Varnum beat seventh-seeded Laura Garcia of Marquette 6-2, 6-1, before losing 6-1, 6-4 to Ohio State’s second-seeded Kristy Dascoli in the quarterfinals.

In the doubles competition, Dasso and Varnum lost just three games on Sunday, beating Drake’s Cecily Dubusker and Rajasree Kuruvilla 8-1 and Iowa’s Toni Neykova and Jody Scheldt 8-2. They next will face Western Michigan’s fourth-seeded Larissa Chinwah and Meaghan Colville, who eliminated Irish junior Lindsey Green and freshman Alicia Salas in the round of 16, the third time this fall the Bronco duo has beaten an Irish team. The third-seeded Irish team of sophomore Katie Cunha and senior Kimberly Guy beat Ohio State’s Sadhaf Pervez and Lindsay Williams 8-4, before losing 8-6 to Indiana?s Karie Schlukebir and Linda Tran in the quarterfinals.