Junior Colleen Rielley teamed with Shannon Mathews to earn a victory at No. 2 doubles.

No. 9 Irish Open Season With 6-1 Victory At Louisville

Jan. 20, 2008

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The ninth-ranked University of Notre Dame women’s tennis team opened its 2008 dual match season in style with a 6-1 victory over 75th-ranked Louisville Sunday afternoon. The Irish have captured their dual-match opener each of the last four seasons.

“Louisville is a much improved team from a year ago,” said Notre Dame head coach Jay Louderback. “We started the match off well with a good doubles performance and it seemed to carry over into singles. It was also nice to see the girls respond to opening the season on the road and playing in front of a pretty good crowd.”

The Irish took the doubles point in pretty convincing fashion. Notre Dame’s third-ranked duo of senior Brook Buck (Yukon, OK) and Kelcy Tefft (Enid, OK) knocked off Bianca Gorbea and Natalie Baez, 8-4. The tandem improved to 12-2 on the season.

The sophomore duo of Kali Krisik (Arkansas City, KS) and Colleen Rielley (Overland Park, KS), ranked 50th, secured the doubles point for the Irish following their 8-5 triumph over Lauren Imre and Lindsey Jones. They now stand 5-1 on the year.

Sophomore Cosmina Ciobanu (Brea, CA) and freshman Kristen Rafael (Grand Prairie, TX) made it a clean sweep for Notre Dame. They disposed off Jo-Ann Van Aerde and Robyn White 8-7. Ciobanu and Rafael improved to 5-1 on the season.

#89 Krisik pushed the Notre Dame lead to 2-0 with a 6-3, 6-2 straight-set victory over Katherina Tomalak at No. 6. Krisik upped her record to 10-2. Tefft followed with a 6-0, 6-2 straight-set victory over Natalie Baez at No. 4. She is now 5-3 on the year.

#62 Ciobanu clinched the match for the Irish with a 6-2, 6-3 straight-set victory over Imre at No. 1. She improved to 12-4 on the season.

Junior #82 Katie Potts (Brookfield, WI) and sophomore #88 Colleen Rielley (Overland Park, KS) also picked up straight-set wins at No. 5 and No. 3 singles respectively. Potts upended Van Aerde 7-5, 6-1, while Rielley defeated Gorbea 6-2, 7-5. Potts is now 8-1 on the year, while Rielley improved to 7-3.

Notre Dame returns to action next Saturday, Jan. 26, at Vanderbilt. First-serve with the Commodores is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. ET.

#9 Notre Dame 6, #75 Louisville 1Singles1. #62 Cosmina Ciobanu (ND) def. Lauren Imre (UL) 6-2, 6-32. Lindsey Jones (UL) def. #64 Brook Buck (ND) 6-3 6-43. #88 Colleen Rielley (ND) def. Bianca Gorbea (UL) 6-2 7-54. Kelcy Tefft (ND) def. Natalie Baez (UL) 6-0 6-25. #82 Katie Potts (ND) def. Joann Van Aerde (UL) 7-5 6-16. #89 Kali Krisik (ND) def. Katherina Tomalak (UL) 6-3 6-2Order of Finish: 6,4,1,2,5,3
Doubles1. #3 Buck/Tefft (ND) def. Gorbea/Baez (UL) 8-42. #50 Krisik/Rielley (ND) def. Imre/Jones (UL) 8-53. Ciobanu/Rafael (ND) def. Van Aerde/White (UL) 8-7Order of Finish: 1,2,3

— ND —