Feb. 15, 2009
MADISON, Wisc. – The No. 14 Notre Dame women’s tennis team fell to top-ranked Northwestern, 4-1, Sunday in the semifinals of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.
Northwestern clinched the doubles point to jump to an early 1-0 lead. Samantha Murray and Elena Chernyakova defeated Shannon Mathews and Colleen Rielley, 8-3, before Keri Robison and Maria Mosolova downed Cosmina Ciobanu and Kali Krisik, 9-7, to clinch the point. No. 1 Kristy Frilling and Kelcy Tefft were tied with No. 25 Lauren Lui and Georgia Rose at 8-8 before the match was called.
Mathews put Notre Dame on the board and tied the score at 1-1 with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Robison at No. 6 singles. No. 28 Rose topped No. 39 Frilling 6-0, 6-3 at No. 2 singles, while Lui knocked off No. 62 Kristen Rafael, 6-1, 6-3. No. 24 Murray defeated Krisik, 6-1, 6-4, to give Northwestern the 4-1 victory.
No. 45 Tefft and No. 1 Mosolova had their No. 1 singles match called at 6-1, 2-6, as did Ciobanu and Nazlie Ghazal at No. 5 singles, 6-3, 3-2.
The Irish fall to 6-1 on the season.
Notre Dame returns home Wednesday when they host Purdue at 4 p.m. at the Eck Tennis Pavilion.
–ND–