Oct. 6, 2000

PALO ALTO, Calif. — The Notre Dame men’s and women’s tennis teams split two matches on Friday on the first day of the WingspanBank.com/World Team Tennis National Collegiate Tennis Championships in which one set each of men’s and women’s singles and doubles and mixed are played with the winner based on cumulative games won. The Irish team of senior Kimberly Guy, juniors Javier Taborga and Aaron Talarico and sophomore Katie Cunha defeated defending champion Texas A&M 28-24 in their first match before falling to host Stanford 27-21. Notre Dame used a strong performance from its ninth-ranked doubles team of Taborga and Talarico to give the Irish a lead they would never lose against the Aggies. The 14th-ranked team of Cunha and Guy defeated Stanford’s Barnikow and Kalvaria 6-5 to open the match before the Cardinal won 18 of the next 25 games. Notre Dame will meet Tulsa on Saturday at 10:00 a.m.

Against the Aggies, the Irish won just two of the five sets but took advantage of the 6-2 win in men’s doubles to build a sizable lead. Cunha and Guy lost 6-5 to A&M’s Martina Nedorostova and Jessica Roland before Talarico gave the Irish an 11-10 lead with a 6-4 win over Cody Hubbell. Talarico then paired with Taborga to extend the advantage to 17-12 with a 6-2 win over Hubbell and Jarin Skube. Guy lost to Nedorostova in singles but helped the Irish maintain the lead in the 6-5 set. Leading 22-18 heading into mixed doubles, Cunha and Taborga also kept the Irish lead despite a 6-5 loss to Nedorostova and Skube. According to the World Team Tennis rules in which overtime eliminates the possibility of the final set becoming a mere exhibition, the Aggies were able to extend the match until they lost a game by virtue of winning the mixed doubles set 6-5. Cunha and Taborga quickly ended any hopes of an Aggie comeback by winning the first game of overtime for the 28-24 final.

Trailing 23-13 heading into the final set of mixed doubles against Stanford, Cunha and Taborga defeated Ali Ansari and Keiko Tokuda 6-3 to force overtime with the Irish trailing 26-19. Cunha and Taborga then pulled Notre Dame within 26-21 before Taborga fell and injured his hand. Talarico replaced Taborga after a lengthy injury timeout, and the Cardinal won the next game to seal the 27-21 win.

With a 1-1 record, Notre Dame concludes pool play against Tulsa on Saturday before placement matches will be contested later in the day. The Golden Hurricanes lost to Stanford 27-19 and fell 21-20 to Texas A&M. The Irish placed sixth at the inaugural WingspanBank.com/WTT National Collegiate Tennis Championships in 1999.

Notre Dame 28, Texas A&M 24

WD: Martina Nedorostova/Jessica Roland (AM) def. Katie Cunha/Kimberly Guy (ND), 6-5 (5-6)

MS: Aaron Talarico (ND) def. Cody Hubbell (AM), 6-4 (11-10)

MD: Javier Taborga/Talarico (ND) def. Hubbell/Jarin Skube (AM) 6-2 (17-12)

WS: Nedorostova(AM) def. Guy (ND), 6-5 (22-18)

MX: Nedorostova/Skube (AM) def. Cunha/Taborga(ND)6-5 (27-24)

OT: Cuhna/Taborga (ND) vs. Nedorostova/Skube (AM), 1-0 (28-24)

Stanford 27, Notre Dame 21

WD: Katie Cunha/Kimberly Guy (ND) def. Lauren Barnikow/Lauren Kalvaria (S) 6-5 (6-5)

MS: Alex Kim (S) def. Aaron Talarico (ND) 6-1 (7-11)

MD: Ali Ansari/Scotty Scott (S) def. Taborga/Talarico (ND) 6-4 (11-17)

WS: Barnikow (S) def. Guy (ND) 6-2 (13-23)

MX: Cunha/Taborga (ND) def. Ansari/Keiko Tokuda (S) 6-3 (19-26)

OT: Ansari/Keiko Tokuda (S) def. Cunha/Taborga (ND) 2-1 * (21-27)

*Talarico replaced Taborga for final game.