Senior Catrina Thompson.

Thompson Twins Move Into Riviera/ITA All-American Semifinals

Oct. 6, 2006

Pacific Palisades, Calif. – The third-ranked Notre Dame doubles’ team of Catrina Thompson and Christian Thompson cruised into the semifinals of the 2006 Riviera/ITA All-American Championship Friday. The 27th-ranked Irish duo of Brook Buck and sophomore Kelcy Tefft dropped their second round match and Catrina Thompson bowed out of the singles draw.

The Irish senior twins, who captured this grand slam title a year ago, have reached the semifinals each of the past three years. They had little trouble Friday with Audrey Banada and Romy Farrah of Miami, 8-3.

The Thompsons evoked revenge for the second straight day. Yesterday, they defeated No. 17 Lindsey Nelson and Dianne Matias of USC. The Trojans’ Nelson and Luana Magnani eliminated the twins from last season’s NCAA Doubles Championship. As for the Hurricanes, they knocked second-ranked Notre Dame out of the 2006 NCAA Tournament.

The Thompsons improved to 5-0 on the season and 77-31 for their career. They are an even more impressive 9-1 over their career in the All-American Championships.

Buck and Tefft lost to No. 3 Roxanne Clarke and Kady Pooler of Arizona State, 8-1. They dropped to 3-2 this fall and 37-8 over the past two seasons.

Catrina Thompson came up short in her second round match against No. 9 Diana Srebrovic of Florida, 6-3, 7-5. She dropped to 3-2 on the season and 76-39 for her career.

This is the first of three national championship events during the 2006-07 collegiate tennis season. Two others are the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships in November and the season-ending NCAA Championships in May in Athens, Ga.

— ND —