March 27, 2007
The Notre Dame women’s tennis team moved up one spot to No. 2 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) poll released Tuesday. The Irish, which have not been ranked lower than No. 4 all season, have been ranked No. 2 on five previous occasions this year.
Notre Dame (16-1) looked as though it might have a chance to garner the top spot in this week’s poll following previously top-ranked Georgia’s loss to Auburn. The Irish were tied with Stanford for third, just a shade behind No. 2 Florida, but the Cardinal took the top spot this week followed by Notre Dame, the Gators, USC and the Bulldogs.
The Irish enter this weekend’s road trip riding an 11-match winning streak. Notre Dame has now captured 37 of its last 39 regular season matches over the past two seasons.
The ITA did not release new rankings for singles or doubles this afternoon, so the Irish still have three singles players and two doubles teams ranked. Senior Catrina Thompson (Las Vegas, NV) is the highest ranked Notre Dame player. She is listed at #19, following by freshman Cosmina Ciobanu (Brea, CA) at #62 and freshman Colleen Rielley (Overland Park, KS) at #114.
Catrina and twin-sister Christian Thompson (Las Vegas, NV) are ranked fourth in doubles, while the tandem of junior Brook Buck (Yukon, OK) and sophomore Kelcy Tefft (Enid, OK) are rated #16.
The Irish return to action on Friday, March 30 against No. 28 Wichita State in Arkansas City, Kan. First-serve is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. (CST). Notre Dame will then travel to Tulsa to face the Golden Hurricane on Sunday, April 1 at 12:00 p.m. (EST).
— ND —