Dec. 17, 2001
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame women’s tennis team will take part in the United States Tennis Association/Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Team Indoor Championships for the ninth consecutive year. This year’s event will take place Feb. 7-10 at the A.C. Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison, Wis. The 16-team field for the nation?s premier national indoor tournament was announced today by the ITA.
Six teams on Notre Dame’s 2002 dual-match schedule are in the field: Duke, North Carolina, Northwestern, Tennessee, Wake Forest and host Wisconsin. Also making the tournament is Southern California, which the Irish faced in an exhibition match in October. Rounding out the field are Baylor, Fresno State, Georgia, Old Dominion, Oklahoma State, NCAA champion Stanford, NCAA finalist Vanderbilt and Washington.
The Irish, who finished in a fifth-place tie last season, have played in each national indoor tournament since 1994. Stanford has won each of the last two titles in the event and has been victorious six times since the event?s inception in 1988.
Notre Dame, which was 25-5 and finished the season ranked 10th last year, opens its spring season on January 26 with a doubleheader, taking on Illinois State at 10 a.m. and Northern Iowa at 3 p.m. Both matches will be played at the Eck Tennis Pavilion. The preseason national team rankings will be released Jan. 8.