Feb. 11, 2005
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The 21st-ranked University of Notre Dame women’s tennis team (3-2) held a 3-1 lead, but then dropped a trio of three-set affairs to lose 4-3 against #17 Harvard (4-1) Friday afternoon in the Murr Center. The Irish claimed the doubles point and two of the first three contests completed in singles only to drop decisions at Nos. 2, 3, and 6 to see the Crimson – whose only defeat was a 5-2 decision against #1 Stanford last weekend – prevail in the first-ever meeting between the teams.
The final match on the court, with the score knotted at 3-3, was the No. 3 contest between 45th-ranked Harvard senior Susanna Lingman and Notre Dame sophomore Christian Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.). The players battled for two sets, with each winning a tiebreaker, but a worn-down Thompson – who has been struggling with injuries – saw Lingman take a 7-6, 6-7, 6-0 decision to hand Harvard the triumph. Thompson dropped to 1-4 in three-set affairs this season, while the Irish lost for the third consecutive time with the score tied 3-3. Notre Dame has won just once in six 4-3 matches over the past two seasons.
With her team down 3-1, Harvard’s Alexis Martire ignited the comeback in the No. 6 match, rallying on multiple occasions to beat Irish junior Liz Donohue (Sioux Falls, S.D./O’Gorman H.S.) 3-6, 6-2, 7-5. Not only did the Crimson senior come back from a one-set deficit, she also trailed 5-3 in the decisive set, but then was able to take four consecutive games to win and keep the team outcome in question. Martire, who has been ranked as high as 53rd in the nation during her career but is currently unranked after not playing in the fall, is unbeaten in four matches this season. Donohue, still looking for her first career clinching victory, was in a new position, playing a three-setter with the team match undetermined for the first time in her seven career dual-match appearances.
Crimson sophomore Elsa O’Riain of Ireland, ranked 104th nationally, also had to rally in her match at No. 2, but she eventually came out victorious over Irish 85th-ranked freshman Brook Buck (Yukon, Okla./Oklahoma Christian School) 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 6-3. The Notre Dame rookie was cruising in the opening set, leading 5-2 before O’Riain came back to force a tiebreaker. Buck won five of the first six points in the `breaker, but the sophomore – who is now 14-5 this season – won six consecutive points to capture the opening frame. She then used her big serve, in combination with the new balls utilized for a third set, to tie the team score at 3-3. Buck lost to a ranked player for just the second time in six tries this season.
The highlight in singles for the Irish came from sophomore Catrina Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.), who knocked off 27th-ranked Courtney Bergman 6-1, 6-4 at No. 1. Thompson, ranked 69th nationally, improved to 9-3 this season and notched her fourth win over a nationally-ranked foe this season. Bergman stands as the highest-ranked player ever to fall to the Notre Dame sophomore, usurping that distinction from then-#39 Megan Muth of William & Mary, who lost in three sets in the semifinals of the Kentucky Fall Classic in 2003. Thompson now holds an 8-1 record away from home this season and a 6-4 career mark against ranked players.
Notre Dame junior Kristina Stastny (St. Louis, Mo./St. Joseph’s Academy) also registered an upset, rallying to take down #93 Preethi Mukundan 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 at No. 5. Stastny has won six of her last seven matches, a stretch that has included both of her two career wins against nationally-ranked foes. She is 13-4 on the season, including 4-1 in dual-match action at No. 5. Stastny, 8-2 in road matches this season, rallied to win after dropping the first set for the second time this season and seventh time in her career. It was the first time in 22 matches – since a 6-7, 7-5, 7-5 victory against Northwestern’s Andrea Yung on April 15, 2004 – that Stastny participated in a three-set affair. She continued in her role as Notre Dame’s top crunch-time player, improving to a team-best 6-3 in three-set matches when the team outcome is still undetermined during her career. Mukundan had been 12-4, including a win against Stanford last weekend.
Harvard rookie Celia Durkin, ranked 123rd, got her team – trailing 2-0 at the time – on the scoreboard by defeating Notre Dame junior Lauren Connelly (Oklahoma City, Okla./Bishop McGuinness H.S.) 6-2, 7-5 at No. 4. It improved Durkin’s mark to 14-5 this season, while snapping a six-match winning streak for Connelly, who had opened the spring with four consecutive victories at No. 4.
The doubles point came down to the No. 2 match, where Buck and Lauren Connelly eventually prevailed 9-7 over Durkin and Melissa Anderson to put the Irish up 1-0 in the match. The Irish team has won five of its last six and stands a team-best 15-4 on the season, including 10-2 on the road. Their only loss this spring came in a similar situation, when Buck and Connelly were the final match on court, with the doubles point undecided, against Vanderbilt, but lost 9-7. The Harvard team had been 9-2 as a pair, including a 4-0 mark – highlighted by wins vs. Stanford, Wisconsin, and Texas A&M – this spring at No. 2.
Notre Dame’s Thompson twins, the #2-ranked team in college tennis, registered an 8-4 win over the 48th-ranked team of Bergman and O’Riain at No. 1. The Irish duo is unbeaten in five matches this spring – four against ranked teams – having given up six games just once. The sisters are now 13-2 on the season, including 10-1 against nationally-ranked teams.
The Thompsons figure to have a great chance of becoming the first Notre Dame doubles team ever ranked #1 in the nation if they can win their next three matches. The current top-ranked team, Cristelle Grier and Audra Cohen of Northwestern, lost twice last weekend and has needed a tiebreaker and a 9-7 affair in its last two victories. Before the next set of national rankings is released on Feb. 22, Notre Dame’s twins figure to face Nida Waseem and Szilvia Szegedi of Boston College on Sunday, then the 42nd-ranked pair of Katie Blaszak and Jackie Carleton of Duke, and finally the 14th-ranked team of Aniela Mojzis and Kendall Cline. The Eagles team is 6-7 on the season, while the Blue Devils are 4-5. Cline and Mojzis, though, are 16-2 in 2004-05, and last season, they beat the Thompsons 8-4 in dual-match action.
Harvard won the quickest doubles match, as Mukundan and Eva Wang beat Stastny and senior captain Sarah Jane Connelly (Oklahoma City, Okla./Bishop McGuinness H.S.) 8-2 at No. 3.
#17 Harvard 4, #21 Notre Dame 3
Singles
No. 1: #69 Catrina Thompson (ND) def. #27 Courtney Bergman (H) 6-1, 6-4
No. 2: #104 Elsa O’Riain (H) def. #85 Brook Buck (ND) 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 6-3
No. 3: *#45 Susanna Lingman (H) def. Christian Thompson (ND) 7-6, 6-7, 6-0
No. 4: #123 Celia Durkin (H) def. Lauren Connelly (ND) 6-2, 7-5
No. 5: Kristina Stastny (ND) def. #93 Preethi Mukundan (H) 2-6, 6-3, 6-3
No. 6: Alexis Martire (H) def. Liz Donohue (ND) 3-6, 6-2, 7-5
Order of Finish: 4, 1, 5, 6, 2, 3*
Doubles
No. 1: #2 Thompson/Thompson (ND) def. #48 Bergman/O’Riain (H) 8-4
No. 2: *Buck/L. Connelly (ND) def. Melissa Anderson/Durkin (H) 9-7
No. 3: Mukundan/Eva Wang (H) def. Sarah Jane Connelly/Stastny (ND) 8-2
Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2*