April 11, 1999
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The 15th-ranked Notre Dame women’s tennis team won four of six singles matches and blitzed to an 8-0 win at No. 1 doubles to beat ninth-ranked William & Mary 5-4 on Sunday at the Eck Tennis Pavilion. Irish seniors Jennifer Hall and Marisa Velasco, playing in their final regular-season dual matches at home, sparked Notre Dame to its second win of the year over a ninth-ranked team. The Irish improve to 18-6 with the win and travel to 65th-ranked Indiana on Thurs., April 15, while William & Mary falls to 17-6.
Velasco matched her biggest win of the year as she beat 38th-ranked Carolijn van Rossum 6-2, 6-3 at No. 3 singles after also beating UCLA’s then 38th-ranked Amanda Basica earlier in the year. Hall teamed with sophomore Michelle Dasso as Notre Dame’s eighth-ranked No. 1 doubles team blanked William & Mary’s 14th-ranked Tari Ann Toro and Laura Tsaggaris 8-0 to clinch the win with a 5-2 Irish lead. The Tribe then won a pair of close matches at No. 2 and 3 doubles for the 5-4 final.
Notre Dame came out strong in singles, winning four matches in straight sets. Junior Kelly Zalinski and freshman Becky Varnum gave the Irish a quick 2-0 lead. Zalinski beat Lindsay Sullivan 6-2, 6-1 at No. 5 singles, while the 69th-ranked Varnum beat 79th-ranked Delphine Troch 6-3, 6-1 at No. 4 singles. Jessyca Arthur gave the Tribe their first point of the match with 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 6 singles over Irish sophomore Kim Guy.
Velasco and Dasso then won a pair of tight matches to give Notre Dame a 4-1 lead. After Velasco’s upset of van Rossum, Dasso edged 42nd-ranked Toro in a tight match at No. 1 singles. Dasso served for the first set at 5-3 but Toro saved set points for a service break and then held serve to rally to 5-5, but Dasso won the final two games of the set. In the second set, it was Toro who went ahead, leading 4-1 before Dasso rallied to force the set into a tiebreaker, which she won 7-4 for Notre Dame’s fourth team point of the match. Carlijn Buis then kept William & Mary alive in the only three-set singles match as she outlasted 62nd-ranked Hall 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 at No. 2 singles.
The win over the ninth-ranked Tribe marks Notre Dame’s second of the year over a ninth-ranked team. The Irish also beat Wake Forest 7-2 on March 6, when the Deamon Deacons were ranked ninth. Notre Dame closes out its regular-season home schedule with a 10-1 record, the only loss coming at the hands of then second-ranked Duke. The Irish have won at least four singles matches for the 19th time in 24 dual matches and boast a 97-40 dual singles record.
#15 NOTRE DAME 5, #9 William & Mary 4
Singles
No. 1: #8 Michelle Dasso (ND) def. #42 Tari Ann Toro (WM) 7-5, 7-6 (4)No. 2: Carlijn Buis (WM) def. #62 Jennifer Hall (ND) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4No. 3: Marisa Velasco (ND) def. #38 Carolijn van Rossum (WM) 6-2, 6-3No. 4: #69 Becky Varnum (ND) def. #79 Delphine Troch (WM) 6-3, 6-1No. 5: Kelly Zalinski (ND) def. Lindsay Sullivan (WM) 6-2, 6-1No. 6: Jessyca Arthur (WM) def. Kim Guy (ND) 6-2, 6-3
Doubles
No. 1: #8 Dasso/Hall (ND) def. #14 Toro/Laura Tsaggaris (WM) 8-0No. 2: #28 Troch/van Rossum (WM) def. Varnum/Velasco (ND) 8-6 No. 3: Buis/Sullivan (WM) def. Green/Zalinski (ND) 9-8 (7)