Jan. 10, 2007
The University of Notre Dame women’s tennis team was ranked No. 4 in the first Fila Collegiate Tennis Rankings of the 2007 season, announced the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) on Monday. In addition to a No. 4 team ranking, freshman Colleen Rielley and senior Catrina Thompson were ranked #31 and #41 respectively in the single poll, while junior Brook Buck and sophomore Kelcy Tefft were ranked #5 and Christian Thompson and twin sister Catrina were rated #11 in doubles.
It is the highest preseason ranking in school history and 16th consecutive season that Notre Dame was ranked among the top 25 in the preseason ITA rankings.
In all, 14 of Notre Dame’s 21 regular-season opponents were listed in the preseason rankings, with six ranking in the top 20: No. 8 North Carolina (which Notre Dame plays on Feb. 16 in the Eck Tennis Pavilion), No. 9 Northwestern (Apr. 13, away), No. 10 Duke (Mar. 15, in San Diego), No. 12 Vanderbilt (Jan. 28, Eck Tennis Pavilion), No. 18 Wake Forest (Feb. 18, Eck Tennis Pavilion) and No. 20 Texas (Mar. 3, Eck Tennis Pavilion).
Notre Dame is ranked first among teams from the ITA’s Midwest Region.
The ITA will release 16 sets of team rankings (released weekly starting on Jan. 30 through Apr. 30) and nine individual listings (bi-weekly from Feb. 21 until April 3 and weekly thereafter).
The 2006-07 Irish squad will open their dual-match season on Jan. 26 at Illinois. Notre Dame starts its home schedule on Jan. 28 against Vanderbilt (Noon) in the Eck Tennis Pavilion.
— ND —