April 14, 2009
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The fourth-ranked Irish women’s tennis team will be the No. 1 seed at the BIG EAST Tournament, hosted by the University of South Florida April 16-19 in Tampa, Fla.
This is the 13th time in the past 14 years that Notre Dame has earned the top seed.
With the top four seeds earning first-round byes, the Irish will take the courts Friday at 9 a.m. against the winner of the Cincinnati-Pittsburgh match.
The Irish are 3-0 against BIG EAST teams this season, notching 5-2 victories over South Florida and DePaul and a 7-0 win over Marquette.
Notre Dame has been very successful in the BIG EAST Tournament since joining the conference in 1996.
The Irish have advanced to all 13 title matches, bringing home eight conference championships during that span.
Notre Dame won last year’s tournament with a 4-1 victory over host-team South Florida in the final match.
Head coach Jay Louderback was awarded Coach of the Year honors, while Kelcy Tefft earned the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player Award.
Tefft was joined by Brook Buck, Cosmina Ciobanu and Colleen Rielley as BIG EAST All-Tournament Team selections in both singles and doubles. Kali Krisik and Kristen Rafael were named to the all-tournament doubles squad.
Currently, Tefft is the highest-rated singles player in the BIG EAST with a No. 35 ITA ranking, just ahead of Kristy Frilling at No. 37.
Tefft and Frilling also lead the BIG EAST in doubles as the second-ranked duo in the nation.
Climbing into the rankings for the first time this season is the doubles pair of Krisik and Ciobanu. They are ranked 79th in this week’s poll.
Complete results will be available at www.und.com following each Irish match of the tournament.
2009 BIG EAST Championship Seeds 1. Notre Dame 2. DePaul 3. South Florida 4. Marquette 5. Rutgers 6. Louisville 7. Syracuse 8. Cincinnati 9. Pittsburgh 10. West Virginia 11. St. John’s 12. Connecticut
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