Sept. 15, 2004
Colorado Invitational
CU-Boulder South Campus Tennis Courts Boulder, CO
Friday
Notre Dame vs. Denver, doubles, 2 p.m.
Notre Dame vs. Colorado, singles, to follow
Saturday
Notre Dame vs. Auburn, singles, 10:30 a.m.
Notre Dame vs. Colorado, doubles, to follow
Notre Dame vs. Denver, doubles, to follow
Sunday
Notre Dame vs. Denver, singles, 9:30 a.m.
NOTRE DAME OPENS 2004-05 SEASON THIS WEEKEND AT COLORADO INVITATIONAL: The University of Notre Dame women’s tennis team will open the 2004-05 campaign this weekend by taking part in the Colorado Invitational at the CU-Boulder South Campus Tennis Courts in Boulder, Colo. The Irish, which feature six players that have been regular starters in at least one of the last two years, will join Auburn, Denver, and the tournament host in “hidden dual” action from Friday through Sunday. Notre Dame finished 2003-04 with a 12-12 record and national ranking of 27th after being the BIG EAST Conference runner-up and losing in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
THE COLORADO INVITATIONAL: The Colorado Invitational will be a four-team event featuring a “hidden dual” format in which teams play simulated matches against each other, but there are no team scores recorded. All individual results are counted for ranking purposes. Participating in the event will be Auburn, Colorado, Denver, and the Irish. Notre Dame will get underway on Friday by facing the Pioneers in doubles at 2 p.m. (MDT) and will then take on the tournament hosts in singles. On Saturday, the Irish begin at 10:30 a.m. with singles against the Tigers and will play doubles against both of the other schools afterwards. Notre Dame and Denver will hook up for singles action on Sunday at 9:30 a.m.This marks the second Irish trip to the Colorado Invitational. In the fall of 2000, Notre Dame took part and had great success, winning 30 of its 37 matches.
THOMPSONS 7TH IN PRESEASON ITA NATIONAL DOUBLES RANKINGS: Sophomore twins Christian Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) and Catrina Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) were ranked seventh in doubles when the preseason edition of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association national rankings were released last week. It matches the highest-ever preseason ranking for a Notre Dame doubles team, as current assistant coach Michelle Dasso and Becky Varnum were seventh to begin the 2000-01 campaign. The Thompsons finished last season at a career-high 26th after reaching the round of 16 in the NCAA Doubles Championship, in which they were the first all-freshman doubles team from any school to garner an invitation since 1998. The twins became the first all-rookie team to regularly play No. 1 doubles for the Irish in the Jay Louderback era, ending up with an overall record of 21-16, including 12-11 in dual matches at No. 1. The Thompsons are just the fourth Notre Dame doubles team to be ranked among the nation’s top seven. Dasso and Varnum peaked at fifth in 2000-01, while Dasso and Jennifer Hall were sixth during the 1998-99 campaign and Hall and Tiffany Gates were as high as seventh in 1996-97. Catrina Thompson, who peaked at 84th in singles last spring, was the lone Irish player represented in this season’s preseason singles rankings, as she came in at 103rd.
IRISH SET FOR EARLIEST START SINCE 1988-89: Though Notre Dame routinely began its season in the first two weeks of September over the first 13 seasons of its varsity program, that practice has changed since the arrival of Jay Louderback as head coach in 1989. In fact, this year’s season-opening tournament will be the earliest opener for a Louderback-coached team at Notre Dame. The last time the Irish began the season this early was in the fall of 1988, when they took part in the Midwest Fall Invitational from Sept. 10-12.
IRISH HEAD COACH: Jay Louderback, who signed a multi-year contract extension in the offseason, is in his 16th season at Notre Dame with a 267-136 (.663) record and his 26th year as a collegiate coach with a 471-314 (.600) mark. He ranks fifth among active NCAA Division I coaches in career victories. Louderback’s Irish have finished in the national top 30 in each of the last 12 seasons, have won 11 conference titles and registered 20 or more victories five times since 1996. Since the preseason of the 1992-93 season, Louderback’s teams have been ranked in the national top 30 in 186 of 187 sets of rankings. After taking over a program looking for its first NCAA tournament appearance, Louderback has helped Notre Dame to the NCAAs 11 times in the last 12 years, including five appearances in the round of 16 and a 1996 quarterfinal finish. Louderback, a four-time Midwest Region coach of the year, has been honored as his conference’s top coach on eight occasions, including five times in eight years in the BIG EAST. In his time at Notre Dame, Louderback’s players have earned All-America honors 13 times, won four national ITA awards, and earned 19 invitations to the NCAA singles championship and 11 to the NCAA doubles tournament. His players have dominated the University awards during Louderback’s tenure, leading all sports in both Byron V. Kanaley awards (six) and Francis Patrick O’Connor awards (five). His family was honored with the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Tennis Family of the Year Award for 2002. The Arkansas City, Kan., native, and 1976 graduate of Wichita State arrived at Notre Dame prior to the 1989-90 season after coaching for seven years at his alma mater and three years (men and women) at Iowa State.
KEEPING UP WITH NOTRE DAME TENNIS: For the fastest results of Notre Dame tennis matches, call the Notre Dame sports hotline at (574) 631-3000 and choose #8. The hotline provides schedule and results information for varsity sports and serves as a supplement to the game recaps and weekly releases provided on the official athletic website at www.und.com. The hotline is the first medium updated with the results of each Notre Dame tennis match. In addition, media members and fans may be added to the sports information e-mail release list by contacting Bo Rottenborn (rottenborn.2@nd.edu), who also can provide any information about the Irish tennis program.