Jan. 22, 2012
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.