Feb. 27, 2005
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The 20th-ranked University of Notre Dame women’s tennis team (5-5) snapped a three-match losing streak by shutting out #57 Iowa (4-3) by a 7-0 score Sunday morning in the Eck Tennis Pavilion. The Irish won the doubles point and then claimed straight-set victories at each of the bottom five positions in singles to clinch the win, losing no more than five total games in any of those matches and just 29 total in singles play.
Notre Dame won at the top and bottom position in doubles and then completed its shutout with a match-tiebreaker triumph at No. 1 singles. The Irish won decisively for the third time in as many contests against Big Ten Conference foes this season, having previously topped #49 Ohio State 6-1 and #20 Michigan 7-0.
The Irish played well in doubles again, taking the match’s initial point for the ninth time in 10 contests this spring. First off the court was the team of senior captain Sarah Jane Connelly (Oklahoma City, Okla./Bishop McGuinness H.S.) and junior Kristina Stastny (St. Louis, Mo./St. Joseph’s Academy), who beat freshmen Jacqueline Lee and Morgan Tuttle 8-2 at No. 3. The Irish team won its fifth consecutive match and improved to 18-5 on the season and 8-2 this spring at No. 3. It was the sixth time this season that Connelly and Stastny gave up two games or fewer in a match.
The #1-ranked team in college tennis, sophomore twins Catrina Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) and Christian Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.), earned their first win since becoming the first Irish doubles team ever to top the national rankings, topping the 59th-ranked pair of Hillary Mintz and Meg Racette 8-3. The Thompsons moved to 9-1 this spring at No. 1, as well as 17-3 overall this season. They are now 12-2 against nationally-ranked teams and six of their 10 matches this spring have seen opponents win four games or fewer.
Iowa got its lone victory on the day at No. 2 doubles, when Hilary Tyler and Anastasia Zhukova eventually prevailed 9-7 over Notre Dame junior Lauren Connelly (Oklahoma City, Okla./Bishop McGuinness H.S.) and freshman Brook Buck (Yukon, Okla./Oklahoma Christian School). The Hawkeyes were up a break, 6-4, and serving at deuce, when Connelly and Buck began to mount a comeback, winning nine consecutive points (and 10 of 11) to give them a chance to serve out the match. On the Irish junior’s serve, they got within two points of victory (30-30) before the Hawkeyes took control, winning 11 of the next 16 points to claim a victory. Tyler and Zhukova remained unbeaten in three matches since becoming a doubles team.
First off the court in singles was Christian Thompson, who snapped a three-match losing streak by beating the Russian, Zhukova, 6-1, 6-2 at No. 3. It also ended Zhukova’s eight-match winning streak and marked her first defeat in seven dual matches this spring.
Junior Liz Donohue (Sioux Falls, S.D./O’Gorman H.S.) lost just two games in putting Notre Dame within a point of victory with a 6-2, 6-0 triumph over Lee at No. 6. It was the fourth time this spring that Donohue lost three games or fewer in a match.
Lauren Connelly notched the clinching victory, defeating Tyler 6-2, 6-1 at No. 5 to end a three-match losing streak. She improved to 15-6 this season.
Shortly thereafter, Buck, ranked 60th in the nation, completed a 6-2, 6-2 victory over #78 Mintz at No. 2. It snapped an eight-match winning streak for the Hawkeye sophomore, who had been 6-0 in dual action at No. 2 this spring. Buck moved to 17-6 on the season and 7-3 in dual play at No. 2. She also improved to 7-3 against nationally-ranked foes as a collegian.
Stastny completed the bottom-of-the-lineup dominance for the Irish by topping Milica Veselinovic of Serbia 6-2, 6-3 at No. 4. It marked a return for the Irish junior to the No. 4 position for the first time since her rookie year, when she was 7-7 there. Stastny is 16-6 this season, while the Iowa rookie had been 15-4.
Catrina Thompson completed the shutout by rallying from dropping a first-set tiebreaker to beat Racette 6-7 (6-8), 7-5, 1-0 (10-6) at No. 1. The Notre Dame sophomore, ranked 32nd in the nation in singles, improved to 13-4 this season and 7-3 in her first spring playing at No. 1.
Notre Dame improved to 10-0 all-time against Iowa in regular-season action, including 8-0 in home matches.
The Irish will have 10 days off before returning to action on Thursday, March 10 at #48 UNLV for a 2 p.m. (MST) match. It will mark a homecoming for Notre Dame’s Thompson twins, natives of Las Vegas and graduates of Bishop Gorman High School.
#20 Notre Dame 7, #57 Iowa 0
Singles
No. 1: #32 Catrina Thompson (ND) def. Meg Racette (I) 6-7 (6-8), 7-5, 1-0 (10-6)
No. 2: #60 Brook Buck (ND) def. #78 Hillary Mintz (I) 6-2, 6-2
No. 3: Christian Thompson (ND) def. Anastasia Zhukova (I) 6-1, 6-2
No. 4: Kristina Stastny (ND) def. Milica Veselinovic (I) 6-2, 6-3
No. 5: Lauren Connelly (ND) def. Hillary Tyler (I) 6-2, 6-1
No. 6: Liz Donohue (ND) def. Jacqueline Lee (I) 6-2, 6-0
Order of Finish: 3, 6, 5*, 2, 4, 1
Doubles
No. 1: #1 Thompson/Thompson (ND) def. #59 Mintz/Racette (I) 8-3
No. 2: Tyler/Zhukova (I) def. Buck/L. Connelly (ND) 9-7
No. 3: Sarah Jane Connelly/Stastny (ND) def. Lee/Morgan Tuttle (I) 8 -2
Order of Finish: 3, 1*, 2