Jan. 22, 2012
Box Score | Photo Gallery 1 
| Photo Gallery 2
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The 20th-ranked University of Notre Dame women’s tennis team moved its record to 3-0 Sunday with a pair of wins over Missouri and IPFW at the Eck Tennis Pavilion. After earning a hard-fought, 6-1 win over the Tigers in the morning match, the Irish defeated the Mastadons 7-0 in the afternoon.
Missouri Recap:
The Irish, for the second consecutive match, claimed the doubles point with relative ease to jump out to a 1-0 advantage. Seniors Kristy Frilling (Sidney, Ohio) and Shannon Mathews (Birmingham, Mich.), the fifth-ranked doubles tandem in the nation, jumped ahead 7-0 in their match against Nina Pantic and Rachel Stuhlmann before losing their first game of the match. The Irish duo quickly rebounded, however, winning the next game to close out the match, 8-1.
Junior Chrissie McGaffigan (Davenport, Iowa) and sophomore Jennifer Kellner (Smithtown, N.Y.) made their dual-match debut against the Tigers, clinching the doubles point with an 8-2 victory over Maria Christensen and Annemijn Koenen at No. 3 doubles. After claiming an early 6-0 advantage, the Irish pairing dropped the next two games to draw the set to within four. McGaffigan and Kellner stopped the rally in its tracks from there, however, winning the next two games to secure the point.
Sophomore Britney Sanders (Ontario, Calif.) and freshman Katherine White (Columbus, Ga.), ranked 25th in the ITA polls, concluded the sweep with a victory over Jamie Mera and Alex Clark at No. 2 doubles, 8-2. The victory improves the first-year pairing to 9-3 overall on the season and 2-0 in dual matches.
Singles proved to be a battle between the two teams that eventually saw the Irish claim five of the six matches. Missouri struck first as Pantic took down Frilling at No. 1 singles, 6-3, 6-1. The Irish quickly reclaimed the lead, however, as Kellner used a straight-sets win over Clark at No. 3 singles (6-3, 6-1) to push the score to 2-1.
Mathews was next to finish for the Irish, fighting to a 7-5, 6-4 triumph over Christensen at No. 2 singles. After jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first set, Mathews dropped the next four games before clawing back to a 6-5 advantage late in the set. The senior then held serve to secure the first set. She would again face an early deficit in the second set, falling behind 0-2 to the Missouri junior, but showed resolve in winning the next three games and holding off Christensen the rest of the way for the victory.
Sophomore Julie Sabacinski (Plantation, Fla.) got her first taste of singles action on the season and made an immediate impact, securing the clinching point in the contest over Annemijn Koenen at No. 6 singles, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5). The win moves Sabacinski above .500 in singles dual matches with an overall record of 11-10.
Sanders and McGaffigan concluded the scoring for the Irish, fighting through three-set matches to secure points. After dropping the first set to Stuhlmann at No. 4 singles, Sanders went on to win both the second (6-3) and third sets (7-5) to complete the come-from-behind victory. McGaffigan, meanwhile, claimed the opening set 7-5 before seeing Mera even the contest up at No. 5 singles with a 6-4 second set. The Irish junior would bounce back in the decisive set, jumping out to an early 3-1 advantage before eventually finishing off the set and the match 6-4.
IPFW Recap:
The Irish again wasted little time jumping out to a 1-0 advantage, claiming the doubles point with another sweep. Sabacinski and sophomore JoHanna Manningham (Mishawaka, Ind.) secured the first of the three matches after defeating Alyssa Tucker and Marcy Huck at No. 3 doubles, 8-2. It is the second victory in as many days for the Irish pairing.
McGaffigan and Kellner clinched the point with an 8-0 triumph over Raquel Vescovi and Frederique Sunstrum at No. 2 doubles, with Sanders and White finishing shortly thereafter with an 8-1 victory over Alex Forsyth and Anita Henestrosa at No. 1 doubles. The Irish have now clinched the doubles point in each of their first three matches, winning all nine matches in the process.
Manningham got singles off to a quick start, clinching her first career singles dual win with a 6-0, 6-0 blanking of Kati Fogle at No. 6 singles. Frilling and Sanders then finished back-to-back at No. 1 and 3, respectively, to clinch the match for the Irish. Frilling took down Henestrova (6-0, 6-0) just before Sanders defeated Huck (6-1, 6-3) to earn the match clincher. After falling behind 3-0 in the second set, Sanders battled back to win the next six games for the straight-sets victory.
With the match decided, the final three matches saw White defeat Forsyth at No. 4 singles (6-1, 6-2), Mathews take down Vescovi at No. 2 singles (6-1, 6-1) and Sabacinski earn a decision over Sunstrum at No. 5 singles (6-1, 6-0). The 7-0 victory marks the second such win of the weekend after winning by an identical count in Saturday’s match against Cincinnati.
The Irish return to the courts next weekend (Saturday-Sunday) when they open play at the ITA National Team Indoor Qualifier in Ann Arbor, Mich. The team faces Yale in the opener with a second-round matchup against either Michigan or Maryland on Sunday based on the outcome of Saturday’s match.
#20 Notre Dame 6, Missouri 1January 22, 2012Eck Tennis Pavilion
Singles:1. Nina Pantic (MIZZOU) def. Kristy Frilling (ND) 6-3, 6-12. Shannon Mathews (ND) def. Maria Christensen (MIZZOU) 7-5, 6-43. Jennifer Kellner (ND) def. Alex Clark (MIZZOU) 6-3, 6-14. Britney Sanders (ND) def. Rachel Stuhlmann (MIZZOU) 3-6, 6-3, 7-55. Chrissie McGaffigan (ND) def. Jamie Mera (MIZZOU) 7-5, 4-6, 6-46. Julie Sabacinski (ND) def. Annemijn Koenen (MIZZOU) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5)
Doubles:1. #5 Kristy Frilling / Shannon Mathews (ND) def. Nina Pantic / Rachel Stuhlmann (MIZZOU) 8-12. #25 Britney Sanders / Katherine White (ND) def. Jamie Mera / Alex Clark (MIZZOU) 8-23. Jennifer Kellner / Chrissie McGaffigan (ND) def. Maria Christensen / Annemijn Koenen (MIZZOU) 8-2
Match Notes:Missouri 0-1Notre Dame 2-0; National ranking #20Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (1,3,2,6,4,5)
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#20 Notre Dame 7, IPFW 0January 22, 2012Eck Tennis Pavilion
Singles:1. Kristy Frilling (ND) def. Anita Henestrosa (IPFW) 6-0, 6-02. Shannon Mathews (ND) def. Raquel Vescovi (IPFW) 6-1, 6-13. Britney Sanders (ND) def. Marcy Huck (IPFW) 6-1, 6-34. Katherine White (ND) def. Alex Forsyth (IPFW) 6-1, 6-25. Julie Sabacinski (ND) def. Frederique Sunstrum (IPFW) 6-1, 6-06. JoHanna Manningham (ND) def. Kasi Fogle (IPFW) 6-0, 6-0
Doubles:1. #25 Britney Sanders / Katherine White (ND) def. Alex Forsyth / Anita Henestrosa (IPFW) 8-12. Jennifer Kellner / Chrissie McGaffigan (ND) def. Raquel Vescovi / Frederique Sunstrum (IPFW) 8-03. JoHanna Manningham / Julie Sabacinski (ND) def. Alyssa Tucker / Marcy Huck (IPFW) 8-2
Match Notes:IPFW 0-1Notre Dame 3-0; National ranking #20Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (6,1,3,4,2,5)
–ND–