Sept. 13, 2007
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame women’s tennis team, fresh off back-to-back NCAA quarterfinal appearances, will open the 2007 Fall campaign this weekend at the University of Tennessee’s St. Mary’s Classic. The tournament features seven NCAA tournament teams from last season including Notre Dame, host Tennessee, North Carolina, defending SEC champion Georgia, Wake Forest, North Carolina State and Louisville. East Tennessee State, Middle Tennessee State and Purdue round out the 10-team field.
Notre Dame will have competitors in six of the eight singles flights and three of four doubles flights. Senior Brook Buck (Yukon, OK) will compete at No. 1 for Irish. She enters the season with 64 career singles wins, the most of any member of this year’s team.
Sophomore Colleen Rielley (Overland Park, KS) will play in the second flight. Rielley posted a 30-11 singles mark in her rookie campaign last year. Cosmina Ciobanu (Brea, CA), who posted a remarkable 26-1 dual meet record in her freshman season, will play in the third flight. Freshman Kristen Raphael (Grand Prairie, TX) will make her Notre Dame debut at the No. 4 position, while sophomore Kali Krisik (Arkansas City, KS) and walk-on Denise Ellison (Bakersfield, CA) will round out the singles line-up at No. 7 and No. 8 respectively.
Buck and Krisik will pair up for the first time in their careers in the first flight of doubles. Ciobanu and Raphael will compete in the second flight, while Rielley and senior Bailey Louderback (South Bend, IN) will enter the fourth flight of doubles.
Doubles has been a strength of the Irish each of the last two seasons, but Notre Dame will enter this season without All-Americans’ Christian and Catrina Thompson — who accounted for 102 career doubles wins. The duo also contributed 179 combined singles wins. The Irish will look to Buck and fellow veterans’ Katie Potts (Brookfield, WI) and Kelcy Tefft (Enid, OK) to fill the void left by two of the most decorated players in Notre Dame tennis history.
The Irish will also get an early scouting report on four future opponents this weekend. Notre Dame will face Louisville, North Carolina, Wake Forest and Purdue in road dual contests this spring.
— ND —