Oct. 22, 2010
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The University of Notre Dame women’s tennis team advanced two of three doubles teams in main draw action on Friday at the ITA Midwest Regionals at the Varsity Tennis Center in Ann Arbor. Both duos return to action on Saturday along with the main singles draw getting underway.
The team of Kristy Frilling (Sidney, Ohio) and Shannon Mathews (Birmingham, Mich.) lived up to the tournament’s billing as the overall No. 1 seed, making quick work of Xu Chang and Mariya Toncheva of Eastern Michigan, 8-1. The pair advances into the round of 16 where they will square off with Northwestern’s pairing of Kate Turvy and Belinda Niu for a bid into the quarterfinals.
Kristen Rafael (Grand Prairie, Texas) and Britney Sanders (Ontario, Calif.) teamed up for the first time on the short season and looked good, disposing of Celine Donnet and Georgia de’Lisle-Tarr of Eastern Michigan, 8-2. The two now face off with Paloma Escobedo and Cami Hubbs of Ohio State, who also notched an 8-2 victory to advance.
Notre Dame’s third team of Julie Sabacinski (Plantation, Fla.) and Chrissie McGaffigan (Davenport, Iowa) couldn’t make it three-for-three, as they fell to Michigan’s duo of Denise Muresan and Kari Wig, 8-6.
Saturday sets up as the busiest day of tennis at the tournament with doubles action getting underway at 9:00 a.m. (ET) before switching over for two rounds of the singles main draw.
Notre Dame will take to the courts for the early doubles session. Rafael then returns to action in a first round singles match against Ohio State’s Hubbs around 11:45 a.m. Frilling, Mathews, McGaffigan and Sanders report for second round singles action around 2:00 p.m., as each earned a first-round bye in the draw.
Check back with und.com for a complete recap of the third day of action at the 2010 ITA Midwest Regional.
2010 ITA Women’s Midwest Regional Results – Day Two:
Doubles Main Draw:
Round of 32:
#1 Kristy Frilling/Shannon Mathews (ND) def. Xu Chang/Mariya Toncheva (EMU) – 8-1
#9/12 Kristen Rafael/Britney Sanders (ND) def. Celine Donnet/Georgia de’Lisle-Tarr (EMU) – 8-2
Denise Muresan/Kari Wig (UM) def. #9/12 Julie Sabacinski/Chrissie McGaffigan (ND) – 8-6
–ND–