Jan. 9, 2008
Notre Dame, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame women’s tennis team was ranked No. 9 in the first Collegiate Tennis Rankings of the 2008 season, announced the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) on Tuesday. In addition to a No. 9 team ranking, the Irish had five players ranked among the top 100 in singles and three doubles’ squads in the top 50.
“After our finish in the NCAA Tournament last year combined with the graduation of the Thompson twins, I figured we would be ranked anywhere from about No. 5 to No. 15,” said head coach Jay Louderback. “With our schedule, we will also have a shot at a few teams ahead of us in the polls and hopefully improves ourselves come NCAA seeding-time.”
Sophomore Cosmina Ciobanu (Brea, Calif.) was the highest ranked Notre Dame player at No. 62. The remaining players listed for the Irish included senior Brook Buck (Yukon, Okla.) at No. 64, junior Katie Potts (Brookfield, Wisc.) at No. 82, sophomore Colleen Rielley (Overland Park, Kan.) at No. 88 and sophomore Kali Krisik (Arkansas City, Ark.) at No. 89.
Buck and junior Kelcy Tefft (Enid, Okla.) rode the wave of their ITA National Indoor Championship to a top five ranking. The Irish duo enters this dual season ranked No. 3. The ranking is the highest for a Notre Dame doubles squad since Catrina and Christian Thompson were ranked No. 1 on Jan. 10, 2006.
Buck was also listed in the top 50 with Krisik as the tandem was listed No. 48. Krisik was then featured with Rielley in the 50th spot.
“For us to have that number of players ranked, both in singles and doubles, it really speaks to the depth of our squad,” said Louderback. “It is especially exciting to see that the hard work by Brook and Kelcy really paid off.”
Notre Dame is one of four teams in the country to have five or more players ranked in the top 100. The rest of the list includes Baylor (five ranked; No. 13), Georgia Tech (six ranked; No. 1) and Northwestern (five ranked; No. 7).
The Irish are also one of three teams in the nation to have three doubles’ teams ranked in the top 50. Notre Dame joins Duke and Northwestern in that group.
In terms of total combined rankings (singles and doubles), Notre Dame and Northwestern lead the entire nation with eight, while NCAA defending National Champion Georgia Tech, Baylor and Duke are second with seven.
It is the second consecutive season the Irish enter the season ranked among the top 10 and 17th consecutive season they were ranked in the top 25.
In all, 17 of Notre Dame’s 23 regular-season opponents – not including the teams the Irish will face in the ITA National Team Indoors, which will provide several ranked tests for Notre Dame – were listed in the preseason rankings, with eight ranking in the top 25: No. 1 Georgia Tech (which Notre Dame plays on March 1 in the Eck Tennis Pavilion), No. 7 Northwestern (Apr. 9, Eck Tennis Pavilion), No. 12 North Carolina (Feb. 24, Chapel Hill, N.C.), No. 16 Vanderbilt (Jan. 26, Nashville, Tenn.), No. 17 Duke (Feb. 21, Durham, N.C.), No. 21 Wake Forest (Feb. 22, Winston-Salem, N.C.), No. 23 Michigan (Jan. 31, Ann Arbor, Mich.) and No. 25 Indiana (March 30, Eck Tennis Pavilion).
Notre Dame is ranked second among teams from the ITA’s Midwest Region, trailing only No. 7 Northwestern.
The Irish will open their dual-match season on Jan. 20 at Louisville. First-serve is scheduled for noon.
Women's Team RankingsAdministered by the ITA1. Georgia Tech (25)2. Stanford3. UCLA (1)4. Florida5. Georgia6. California7. Northwestern8. USC9. Notre Dame 10. Clemson11. Miami (Florida)12. North Carolina13. Baylor14. Fresno State15. College of William and Mary16. Vanderbilt17. Duke18. Pepperdine19. Arizona State20. Florida State21. Wake Forest22. Tennessee23. Michigan24. Texas25. Indiana
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