March 18, 2010
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The fourth-ranked Irish women’s tennis team will travel to Nashville, Tenn., Friday for a match with No. 17 Vanderbilt at the Brownlee O. Curry Jr. Tennis Center. Match time is set for 2:30 p.m.
The Irish are now 12-2 on the season after going 1-1 during their spring break trip to Puerto Rico. Notre Dame topped William and Mary, 5-2, before falling to fifth-ranked Duke, 5-2.
Notre Dame is led by sophomore Kristy Frilling (Sidney, Ohio/Lehman & Abeka), who is ranked 14th nationally with a 12-2 mark at No. 1 singles. Freshman Chrissie McGaffigan (Davenport, Iowa/Bettendorf) and sophomore Shannon Mathews (Birmingham, Mich./Cranbrook-Kingswood) both hold 9-5 records on the season and are ranked 99th and 108th, respectively. Senior Cosmina Ciobanu (Brea, Calif./Troy) is riding an eight-match win streak and is 12-2 overall this season, including 5-0 at No. 4 singles.
The Irish have also seen very strong doubles performances this season, having won the doubles point in 11 of their 14 matches. Frilling and senior partner Kali Krisik (Arkansas City, Kan./Arkansas City) are 10-0 at No. 1 doubles and are ranked fourth in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) poll. After going 2-0 at No. 1 doubles together, Frilling and Mathews entered the ITA poll this week at No. 53.
The Commodores are 7-4 this season and are coming off a 5-2 loss to Georgia at home on March 14. Vanderbilt has three singles players ranked in the top 80 nationally. Sophomore Jackie Wu is ranked 24th, senior Catherine Newman sits at 38th and sophomore Chelsea Preeg is 76th. The Commodores also bring competitive doubles teams to Friday’s match. Preeg and Wu are the 27th-ranked doubles team, while Heather Steinbauer and Erica Robertson team up as the nation’s 30th-ranked duo.
Complete results will be available at www.UND.com followed the completion of Friday’s match.
–ND–