Shannon Mathews clinched the match for the Irish with her convincing 6-2, 6-1 win over Wisconsin's Jenny Hois at No. 2 singles.

Irish Back To Winning Ways, Defeat Wisconsin 6-1

Feb. 13, 2011

Photo Gallery media-icon-photogallery.gif

Notre Dame-Wisconsin Box Score Get Acrobat Reader

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The 13th-ranked University of Notre Dame women’s ended its two-game skid, defeating the Wisconsin Badgers, 6-1, Sunday at the Eck Tennis Pavilion. The Irish now own a 4-4 record on the dual season.

In what has been a key this season, Notre Dame claimed the doubles point to get out to an early 1-0 lead. In matches that the Irish have won the doubles point, the team is 4-0 while they are 0-4 when dropping the point.

Juniors Kristy Frilling (Sidney, Ohio) and Shannon Mathews (Birmingham, Mich.) wrapped up first with a convincing 8-2 win over Wisconsin’s Nicky Stracar and Alaina Trgovich at No. 1 doubles. The Irish pairing has now won three of their last four dual matches.

Freshmen Julie Sabacinski (Plantation, Fla.) and Jennifer Kellner (Smithtown, N.Y.) moved to No. 2 doubles for the first time on the season and responded with a critical 8-5 win over Jenny Hois and Angela Chupa to clinch the point.

At No. 3 doubles, senior Kristen Rafael (Grand Prairie, Texas) teamed with freshman JoHanna Manningham (Mishawaka, Ind.) in the Penn High School product’s first match of the dual season, but the Irish duo fell to the Badger tandem of Jessica Seyferth and Hannah Berner, 8-5.

In singles action, every match was decided in straight sets, with Kellner claiming the team’s second point with a win over Trgovich (6-1, 6-0) at the No. 4 position. For Kellner, it marks her first win at No. 4 and pushes her overall record to 6-2 in dual competition.

Frilling pushed the margin to three points, taking down Stracar at No. 1 singles, 6-2, 6-1, and Mathews locked up the match victory shortly after, dispensing of Hois at No. 2 singles by an identical 6-2, 6-1 count. Both Frilling and Mathews now have 8-0 records at No. 1 and 2, respectively, and have dropped a mere two sets in their 16 matches played.

The Badgers got their lone point of the match at No. 6 singles, as Manningham fell in her first dual season singles match to Seyferth, 6-4, 6-3. The Irish, however, closed out the final two matches at No. 5 and No. 3 singles to close out the 6-1 win. Sabacinski, in her first match at No. 5, defeated Chupa, 6-1, 6-4, while Rafael pushed her record to 4-4 at No. 3 with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Berner.

After a busy weekend of matches, the Irish now have a 12-day break from matches before returning to action at the Blue-Gray Tournament (Feb. 25-27).

Wisconsin vs. Notre DameFeb 13, 2011 at Notre Dame, Ind.#13 Notre Dame 6, Wisconsin 1
Singles competition1. #9 Kristy Frilling (ND) def. Nicky Stracar (WIS) 6-2, 6-12. #104 Shannon Mathews (ND) def. Jenny Hois (WIS) 6-2, 6-13. #79 Kristen Rafael (ND) def. Hannah Berner (WIS) 6-3, 6-24. #106 Jennifer Kellner (ND) def. Alaina Trgovich (WIS) 6-1, 6-05. Julie Sabacinski (ND) def. Angela Chupa (WIS) 6-1, 6-46. Jessica Seyferth (WIS) def. JoHanna Manningham (ND) 6-4, 6-3
Doubles competition1. Kristy Frilling/Shannon Mathews (ND) def. Nicky Stracar/Alaina Trgovich (WIS) 8-22. Jennifer Kellner/Julie Sabacinski (ND) def. Jenny Hois/Angela Chupa (WIS) 8-53. Jessica Seyferth/Hannah Berner (WIS) def. JoHanna Manningham/Kristen Rafael (ND) 8-5
Match Notes:Wisconsin 4-2Notre Dame 4-4; National ranking #13Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (4,1,2,6,5,3)