Oct. 22, 2006

EAST LANSING, Mich. – All three Notre Dame doubles teams moved into the quarterfinals and freshman Colleen Rielley’s upset of the No. 2 seed and 25th-ranked player in the country highlighted action from each of the main draws in the 2006 ITA Midwest Championships on Saturday. The Irish were the only school among the field that placed three doubles teams into the final eight.

While each of Notre Dame’s three doubles team has yet to lose, it was Rielley’s victory that stole the show. The freshman from Overland Park, Kan. knocked off Alexis Prousis of Northwestern, 6-4, 6-4, to reach the round of 16. Rielley opened her singles action with another straight-set victory over Neela Vaez of Purdue, 6-2, 6-1. Rielley improved to 8-1 on the season with the victory and will face Nazlie Ghazal of Northwestern on Sunday for a spot in the quarterfinals.

Rielley was one of three Notre Dame singles players to reach the round of 16. Senior Christian Thompson cruised with a pair of straight-set victories. Thompson beat Kylie Moore of Marquette, 6-2, 6-3, and then defeated Dunja Antunovic of DePaul, 6-1, 6-4. She improved to 3-2 on the season with the two victories and will play Mili Veselinovic of Iowa on Sunday.

Rielley was not the only freshman to make noise on Saturday. Cosmina Ciobanu also moved into the round of 16 with back-to-back straight-set victories. Ciobanu survived the opening set with Sigrid Fischer of Indiana, winning 7-5, but then cruised the rest of the day. She took the ensuing set, 6-1, then blasted Jenny Kuehn of Michigan, 6-3, 6-2. Ciobanu is now 7-1 on the season and will face Beatrix Csordas of DePaul on Sunday.

The No. 1 seeded Irish doubles team of junior Brook Buck and sophomore Kelcy Tefft advanced into the quarterfinals with an 8-1 rout of Tijana Koprivica and Ashley Schellhas of Minnesota. They improved to 6-2 on the season and will face Lubica Nadasska and Callan Smith of Illinois-Chicago on Sunday.

Sophomore Katie Potts and freshman Colleen Rielley also moved on. They doubled up Christine Bader and Stephanie Kebler of Michigan State, 8-4. Potts and Rielley upped their record to 6-0 on the season. They will play Kuehn and Chisako Sugiyama of Michigan on Sunday.

The final Irish doubles team in action was Ciobanu and freshman Kali Krisik. They moved into the quarterfinals with a thrilling 9-7 victory over Brook Beier and Randi Schuler of Purdue, 9-7. Ciobanu and Krisik improved to 6-0 on the season. They will face Georgia Rose and Prousis of Northwestern on Sunday.

Catrina Thompson, the No. 1 seed, opened her singles play with a 6-0, 6-0 whitewashing of Myriam Cueva of Toledo, but dropped her second round match to Lauren Liu of Northwestern, 6-2, 6-3. Tefft also opened with a victory, knocking off Tania Mahtani of Michigan, 6-4, 6-3. But, she lost her next match to Rose of Northwestern, 6-2, 6-4. Potts cruised past Elizabeth Exon of Michigan, 6-1, 6-0, but lost her ensuing match to Ghazal, 6-3, 5-7, 7-5.

Buck, the No. 4 seed, dropped her opening round match to Suzie Matzenauer of Northwestern, 6-4, 6-4. Buck did rebound with a consolation round victory over Mahtani, 6-2, 6-1. Krisik dropped a heartbreaking opening round match to Jacqueline Lee of Iowa, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-4. Krisik also lost her consolation match, 7-6, 6-3, to Alba Berdalla of Indiana, 7-6, 6-3.

— ND —