May 7, 2004
Senior co-captain Alicia Salas (Englewood, Colo./Cherry Creek H.S.) and freshman Christian Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) were both named to the BIG EAST Conference all-tournament team in singles, while Thompson and her twin sister, Catrina Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.), gained mention in doubles, when the league awards were announced on Friday. The teams were determined by voting of conference head coaches, who were prohibited from voting for their own players. Notre Dame, the top seed, fell to Miami 4-0 in the title match of the BIG EAST Championship last weekend.
This is just the second year the BIG EAST has named an all-tournament team, and Salas is one of four players (also Miami’s Megan Bradley, Mari Toro, and Melissa Applebaum) to earn singles honors on both occasions. Salas stands 23-16 on the season and ranked 22nd in the nation (second-highest among league players). In the BIG EAST Championship, Salas did not finish her first match, rallying from losing the first set 6-1 against #109 Anat Elazari of Virginia Tech, another all-tournament honoree, to take the second set by the same score and have the match abandoned with the Hokie up 2-1 in the third after the Irish clinched a 4-0 win against Tech. In the final, Salas fell 6-0, 6-1 to #4 Bradley, who was named the BIG EAST’s Most Outstanding Tournament Player for the second year in a row on Friday. Salas, appearing for the second straight year, and Bradley are the only two conference players who earned berths in the 64-player NCAA Singles Championship, set for May 24-29 in Athens, Ga.
Christian Thompson and Applebaum tied for the final spot on the singles all-tournament and, thus, both gained mention. Thompson is 24-13 this season, including 12-8 in dual matches at No. 2. She has been ranked as high as 88th nationally. Thompson beat Virginia Tech’s Carolyn Kramer 6-1, 6-1 in the semis of the BIG EAST tournament and faced Applebaum in the final. The Hurricane won the first set 6-2 and led 5-3 in the second before Thompson fought off four championship points in rallying to win the set 7-5. The Irish rookie was up 2-1 in the third. She is the lone freshman on this year’s singles all-tournament squad, joining Applebaum as the only rookies ever to be so honored.
Joining the Irish duo, the Miami trio, and Elazari on the singles team was Boston College’s Szilvia Szegedi.
The Thompsons are the first all-freshman doubles team to be earn all-BIG EAST Championship mention. They are 21-15 this season and ranked 36th in the nation. It was announced Thursday that they will be the only all-rookie pair — and lone BIG EAST entrant — in the 32-team NCAA Doubles Championship, slated for May 25-29 in Athens, Ga. The Irish team beat Melissa Kinard and Felice Lam 8-4 at No. 1 to clinch the doubles point against Virginia Tech, then fell to then-#36 Applebaum and Bradley, who also earned all-tournament honors, 8-6 in the title match.
The other doubles team gaining all-league accolades was the pair of Emily Hellberg and Nida Waseem of Boston College.
Paige Yaroshuk-Tews of Miami was named the BIG EAST Coach of the Year for the second time in three years.
Notre Dame and the Hurricanes have met in all nine title matches of the BIG EAST Championship since the Irish joined the league in 1995-96, with Notre Dame winning in 1996, ’97, ’99, 2001, and ’03.
Salas and the Thompsons will lead Notre Dame in the NCAA Championship, which gets underway May 15. The Irish, ranked 29th with an 11-11 record and one of the No. 17-32 seeds, will face #38 Iowa at 10 a.m. (CDT) at the Vandy Christie Tennis Center on the campus of Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.