Nov. 5, 2011
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Kristy Frilling (Sidney, Ohio) and Shannon Mathews (Birmingham, MIch.), seniors on the women’s tennis team, punched their ticket to the championship match of the ITA National Individual Indoors Saturday with a victory over top-seeded Mallory Burdette and Nicole Gibbs of Stanford at the USTA-Billie Jean King Indoor Tennis Center.
Both sets would feature back-and-forth play from each of the two pairings. The Irish duo jumped out to a quick 3-1 advantage in the first set before Burdette and Gibbs reeled off three games to take a 4-3 advantage. Frilling and Mathews rebounded, however, taking a 6-5 lead in the set before winning the decisive game for the one-set advantage.
Much the same as the first set, Frilling and Mathews claimed an early 3-1 lead in the second before surrendering the lead and trailing 4-3. The Irish duo would hold serve to even the set at 4-4. The next four games of the match would prove dramatic, with the Irish breaking Stanford to take 5-4 and 6-5 advantages, but the Cardinal duo would break back both times to preserve the set and force a tiebreaker. Frilling and Mathews stormed out in the breaker, capturing an early 4-0 advantage before Stanford won three straight of their own to move the score to 4-3. The Irish pairing, however, responded once again and won three of the next four points to close out the set and the match, 7-5, 7-6 (7-4).
The championship match at the ITA National Individual Indoor Championship is scheduled to begin Sunday at 10:00 a.m. (ET) with Frilling and Mathews facing off with USC’s duo of Kaitlyn Christian and Sabrina Santamaria.
Back on campus, meanwhile, the Irish enjoyed another successful day at the Eck Tennis Classic as they recorded a total of seven victories for the second straight day, four in singles and three in doubles. In singles action, Julie Sabacinski (Plantation, Fla.), Jennifer Kellner (Smithtown, N.Y.) and Chrissie McGaffigan (Davenport, Iowa) each posted convincing straight-sets decisions. Sabacinski took down Wake Forest’s Karen Forman (6-1, 6-1) while Kellner and McGaffigan defeated Oklahoma’s Nicole Long (6-2, 7-5) and Peta Maree Lancaster (6-1, 6-1), respectively.
Britney Sanders (Ontario, Calif.) recorded the other singles win for Notre Dame, claiming a hard-fought, three-set tilt over Mia Lancaster of Oklahoma, 6-4, 5-7, 7-5. Katherine White (Columbus, Ga.) and JoHanna Manningham (Mishawaka, Ind.) were the lone losses on day two, as they fell to Oklahoma’s Whitney Wofford (6-3, 3-6, 6-4) and Wake Forest’s Rebecca Siegler (6-3, 6-1), respectively.
Kellner and McGaffigan as well as White and Sanders turned in two more dominant performances in doubles play. Kellner and McGaffigan knocked off the Sooners’ duo of Wofford and Long (8-3), while White and Sanders defeated the Lancaster sisters of Oklahoma (8-2). The other doubles victory came in an intra-squad match as Sabacinski and Sanders won 6-3 over Kellner and Mississippi State’s Roseline Dion.
The remaining two doubles matches saw Wake Forest’s Zane Zarina and Siegler defeat Sabacinski and Manningham in a close contest, 9-8 (7-5) and Mississippi State’s duo of Olesya Tsigvintseva and Petra Ferancova take down Manningham and McGaffigan, 8-5.
The final day of competition gets underway Sunday at 10:00 a.m. with two sessions scheduled to take to the courts. Be sure to check back with und.com for a complete recap of Frilling and Mathews at the ITA Indoor Championship and the rest of the Irish at the Eck Tennis Classic. For match updates at the Eck Classic, be sure to follow @NDSIDBrent on Twitter.
ITA National Individual Indoor Championship
Doubles Main Draw - Semifinals:#3 Frilling/Mathews (ND) def. #1 Burdette/Gibbs (STAN) 7-5, 7-6 (7-4)
Eck Tennis Classic - Day Two:
Singles:Julie Sabacinski (ND) def. Karen Forman (WF) 6-1, 6-1Jennifer Kellner (ND) def. Nicole Long (OU) 6-2, 7-5Chrissie McGaffigan (ND) def. Peta Maree Lancaster (OU) 6-1, 6-1Britney Sanders (ND) def. Mia Lancaster (OU) 6-4, 5-7, 7-5Whitney Wofford (OU) def. Katherine White (ND) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4Rebecca Siegler (WF) def. JoHanna Manningham (ND) 6-3, 6-1
Doubles:Kellner/McGaffigan (ND) def. Wofford/Long (OU) 8-3White/Sanders (ND) def. Lancaster/Lancaster (OU) 8-2Zarina/Siegler (WF) def. Sabacinski/Manningham (ND) 9-8 (7-5)Sanders/Sabacinski (ND) def. Dion (MSU)/Kellner (ND) 6-3Tsigvintseva/Ferancova (MSU) def. Manningham/McGaffigan (ND) 8-5
–ND–