Sept. 27, 2001
Notre Dame, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame women’s tennis team opens its 26th varsity season this weekend by sending players to the Bulldog Invitational in Athens, Ga. and the adidas Invitational in Palm Springs, Calif.
BULLDOG INVITATIONAL: Notre Dame will send eight players to the Bulldog Invitational in Athens, Ga., taking place from Friday through Sunday this weekend. The tournament will feature “hidden dual” matches where teams play simulated matches against each other, but there are no team scores recorded. Each scheduled “match” will consist of either six singles matches or three doubles matches. All individual results are counted for ranking purposes. On Friday, the Irish are scheduled to take on Kansas State (doubles only) at 9:30 a.m. and Miami at 1:30 p.m. The Saturday slate has Notre Dame facing host Georgia (doubles only) at 8:30 a.m. and Kansas State at 1:00 p.m. The Irish will play Georgia at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday to complete tournament play.
Georgia finished last season with a 23-5 record and reached the national semifinals before losing to Vanderbilt in a 4-3 match. The Bulldogs were ranked fifth in the final Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings. Georgia returns much talent from that team, including three All-Americans. Five Bulldogs are ranked in the top 100 in the nation in the preseason ITA rankings, and two doubles teams are in the top 50. Senior All-American Mariel Verban is ranked eighth, while junior All-American Anne Nguyen is 12th. Junior doubles All-American Lori Grey is 32nd in singles, while sophomore Agata Cioroch is 58th and junior Tina Hojnik is 75th. Cioroch has never lost a collegiate singles match after finishing last year with a perfect 26-0 record. In doubles, Cioroch and Grey are ranked 20th, while Nguyen and Verban are 36th. The Irish and Bulldogs met in the second round of last season’s USTA/ITA National Women’s Team Indoor Championships in Madison, Wisc. with Georgia gaining a 5-1 victory. Lindsey Green (El Cajon, Calif.) gained the only singles victory for Notre Dame by defeating Christa Grey at No. 6 singles 6-4, 6-3. Caylan Leslie (Newport Beach, Calif.) lost in three sets to Hojnik at No. 4 singles. In doubles, Katie Cunha (Mercer Island, Wash.) and Kimberly Guy won 8-5 at No. 2 doubles over Christa Grey and Alex Smith.
Kansas State finished 12-10 in 2000-01 and was ranked 55th in the final ITA rankings. The Wildcats have two players ranked in the preseason top 100. Senior Alena Jecminkova is ranked 56th and junior Petra Sedlmajerova is tied for 100th. Notre Dame and Kansas State met in a dual match last February in Manhattan, Kan. with the Irish pulling out a 4-3 win. Becky Varnum (Colorado Springs, Colo.) beat Sedlmajerova 6-1, 6-3 at No. 2 singles, while Nina Vaughan (Corona del Mar, Calif.) and Leslie also won in straight sets. Notre Dame won all three doubles matches, which proved to be the deciding factor.
Miami reached the NCAA championships a season ago and finished 15-9 with a no. 37 national ranking. The Hurricanes and Irish met twice a season ago, both times in Miami. In March, Notre Dame beat the ‘Canes 6-1. The Irish won all three doubles matches and then took five of six singles points to gain the victory. The teams met again in April in the final of the BIG EAST Championships with Notre Dame winning a hard-fought match 4-1. The Irish won a pair of doubles matches to clinch the doubles point and then got victories from Guy, Varnum and Michelle Dasso in singles. Varnum clinched the win with a three-set victory over Alanna Broderick at No. 2 singles. The Hurricanes and Irish have met in the final of the BIG EAST Championships each year since Notre Dame joined the conference in 1996. The Irish were victorious in 1996, ’97, ’99 and 2001.
Participating in the Bulldog Invitational for Notre Dame will be Varnum, Green, Cunha, senior Michelle Hamilton (Diamond Bar, Calif.), junior Maggie Donohue, sophomores Emily Neighbours (Indianapolis, Ind.) and Alicia Salas (Engelwood, Colo.), as well as freshman Sarah Jane Connelly (Oklahoma City, Okla.).
ADIDAS INVITATIONAL: Two players will travel to the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Palm Springs, Calif. to represent the Irish in the adidas Invitational. Leslie and Vaughan will play both singles and doubles in the tournament.
ITA RANKINGS: Three Notre Dame players are ranked in the ITA preseason rankings. Varnum, who garnered All-America honors in doubles a season ago, is ranked 48th in singles and 23rd in doubles, along with Green. Varnum and Dasso were ranked ninth in last year’s final doubles rankings. Vaughan is 61st in the preseason singles rankings. The team rankings are not released until January. Notre Dame finished 2000-01 ranked 10th nationally after being ranked as high as fifth — the highest ranking in the program’s history.
IRISH FACE TOUGH SLATE: The Irish again face a difficult schedule in 2001-02. In dual-match play, they will take on 15 teams that participated in the NCAA tournament a season ago, including six squads that advanced to the round of 16. Eleven of the 14 home matches for Notre Dame will be against 2001 NCAA tournament teams, as will seven of the final eight matches overall. That stretch includes road showdowns with round-of-16 participants Wake Forest and Texas, as well as Duke, which was ranked third in the nation at the end of last season. The final home matches of the regular season feature regional rival Northwestern and BIG EAST foe Miami. The Irish will also compete in the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championships for the ninth consecutive season. Notre Dame will defend its 2001 BIG EAST championship April 19-21 in Miami.
HEAD COACH JAY LOUDERBACK: Jay Louderback is in his 13th year as head coach of the Irish, compiling a 225-101 (.690) record at Notre Dame and a career mark of 429-279 (.606) in 21 seasons of coaching. His 2001 team won 25 matches, setting a new mark for wins by an Irish team at the NCAA Division I level. He has guided the Irish to NCAA championship appearances in eight of the last nine years, including a national quarterfinal appearance in 1996. His teams have finished among the top 20 teams in the country in seven of the last nine years and in the top 30 in all but two of his years at Notre Dame. The Arkansas City, Kan., native, and 1976 graduate of Wichita State has been named the ITA regional coach of the year three times (1995, 1998 and 2000) and was named BIG EAST coach of the year after leading the Irish to BIG EAST championship titles in 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2001. His Notre Dame players have won 13 All-America honors in his 12 years.
HOME, SWEET HOME: The Irish have had excellent success at home over the past few years. Notre Dame has not lost a match at home since a 5-4 defeat at the hands of Iowa in the second round of the 1999 NCAA tournament. The Irish were 10-0 at home last season and 12-0 in 1999-2000 for a 22-match current home winning streak. In regular season play, Notre Dame has not lost since a 6-3 decision to Duke in February of 1999. The Irish have won 26 straight home regular season matches. Over the past four seasons, Notre Dame is 41-4 (.911) at home. In the Jay Louderback era, Notre Dame is 109-22 (.832) at the Courtney Tennis Center or Eck Tennis Pavilion.
RECORD-SETTING SEASON: In addition to setting new marks for highest ITA ranking and most victories as a Division I program, 2000-01 featured some individual records. Michelle Dasso completed her career as the all-time leader in career singles (140), doubles (109) and combined (249) victories. Also, Becky Varnum set a new school record for doubles victories in a season with 37, shattering the previous mark of 32 set in 1981 by Pam Fischette. Varnum and Dasso won 21 straight doubles matches at one point last season.
ECK TENNIS PAVILION NEARING MILESTONE: The next dual-match victory by either Notre Dame tennis team in the Eck Tennis Pavilion will be the 100th in the history of the building. Since it was constructed in 1987, the Eck Tennis Pavilion has been the site of many exciting moments in Irish tennis history. It served as host to the 1994 NCAA men’s championship and the 1998 NCAA women’s championship. In its 13 years of existence, Notre Dame tennis teams are 99-26 in dual matches played in the Eck Tennis Pavilion, including a perfect 9-0 record a season ago. The NCAA women’s championships will return to Notre Dame in 2003.
2001-02 PREVIEW: Notre Dame returns six of their top eight players from last year’s team, which advanced to the round of 16 in the NCAA tournament and finished 10th in the nation. Gone are Michelle Dasso and Kimberly Guy. Dasso was a four-time All-American and the first player in school history to advance to the NCAA Division I singles championship semifinals and also the first to be named ITA national senior player of the year. Guy was also important to the Irish success, registering 58 victories a season ago. Headlining the returning players is Varnum, who will serve as the team captain after playing the past two seasons at No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles. Varnum enters her senior year as one of the most successful doubles players in school history after earning all-American honors with Dasso a season ago. In three seasons, she has won 82 doubles matches and needs 27 wins this year to reach the school record set by Dasso last year. In singles, Varnum was 20-4 in dual matches a year ago and finished the season by winning 17 of her final 19 matches.
Senior Nina Vaughan is also expected to play near the top of the lineup after competing at No. 3 singles last season. Vaughan has been a key contributor to the Irish over the past two seasons, notching at least 20 dual singles wins in each of the last two years, including a team-high 21 a year ago. She also won 27 doubles matches a season ago, mostly at No. 3 doubles with Green.
After an outstanding freshman campaign, Caylan Leslie will also be looked upon to play high in the Irish lineup in 2001-02. Leslie started her college career with six consecutive victories and eventually posted a 30-12 singles mark, mostly at No. 4.
Senior Lindsey Green has been a consistent contributor over her first three years in the Irish lineup and will be an important factor again this year. Green has registered 27 doubles wins and at least 22 singles wins in each of her first three seasons. Another 27-win season in doubles would match Dasso’s record for career doubles victories. Last season, Green played mostly No. 5 singles and No. 3 doubles. She was 19-5 in dual singles matches last year.
Also returning to the Irish lineup will be junior Katie Cunha, who played No. 2 doubles last season with Guy and saw some singles action, as well. After two seasons, Cunha has registered 51 doubles victories, the majority of them with Guy as her partner. As a freshman, she posted a 15-3 mark in dual singles matches and was 7-2 last year.
Sophomore Alicia Salas also figures to challenge for a spot in the dual-match lineup. Salas had an exceptional fall last year as a freshman and finished 16-4 overall in singles. Another sophomore, Emily Neighbours, will also vie for playing time. She battled injuries last season, but still posted an impressive 11-1 singles record.
Seniors Michelle Hamilton and Berica Day (San Antonio, Texas), as well as junior Maggie Donohue will provide depth to the squad.
The Irish will also be helped by the addition of freshman Sarah Jane Connelly. She comes to Notre Dame after a standout career in high school and junior competition. Connelly was ranked 31st in singles and fourth in doubles in the United States Tennis Association national 18s rankings. She won the 1998 USTA National Indoor doubles title. Connelly led Bishop McGuiness High School to three Oklahoma state titles and she also captured three state singles titles.