Nov. 6, 2004
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Junior Kristina Stastny (St. Louis, Mo./St. Joseph’s Academy) registered her first career singles win against a nationally-ranked opponent to headline play for the University of Notre Dame women’s tennis team Saturday in the IU Tennis Center on the second day of the Indiana Invitational. In all, the Irish won five of six singles contests and added a pair of doubles triumphs on the day.
Notre Dame opened the day with doubles action, losing three matches against Purdue before taking two of three from the host team. The Irish then claimed victories in five of six singles tilts against DePaul, which had nary an American among its six players, instead fielding two Bulgarians, a Hungarian, a Serbian, a Croatian, and a Canadian.
Stastny, who had failed to win a set in five previous meetings with ranked players, won a match tiebreaker to defeat #124 Gergana Ganeva of DePaul 6-2, 2-6, 1-0 (10-5). The sophomore from Bulgaria was the Blue Demons’ No. 1 player last spring, ending her freshman campaign with a 23-11 record after being ranked as high as 97th. It was the first time Stastny had even taken on a nationally-ranked foe in almost two years, since falling to #98 Katie Granson of Duke on Feb. 21, 2003, in dual-match action at No. 4. Stastny improved to 8-3 this fall, and she how boasts a 24-12 career mark against Midwest Region foes, as well as a 36-7 record when winning the opening set.
Stastny also had an impressive victory in doubles, teaming with senior captain Sarah Jane Connelly (Oklahoma City, Okla./Bishop McGuinness H.S.) to defeat the Hoosier duo of Dora Vastag and Czech Dominika Walterova 8-5. Vastag is ranked 37th in the nation in singles and is 31st in doubles, along with junior Sarah Batty, who did not play on Saturday. The Irish team holds a 10-3 mark this fall.
Connelly also was victorious in singles, defeating Croatian Anja Mihaldinec 6-1, 6-1 to improve to 9-2 this season.
Freshman Brook Buck (Yukon, Okla./Oklahoma Christian School), who upset 37th-ranked Vastag in a match tiebreaker on Friday, continued to roll by notching a 6-2, 2-6, 1-0 (10-7) victory against senior Marina Parshkevova of Bulgaria. Buck is 9-3 on the season.
In doubles, Buck and junior Lauren Connelly (Oklahoma City, Okla./Bishop McGuinness H.S.) claimed an 8-2 win against Indiana’s Laura McGaffigan and Brianna Williams to move to 11-3 this fall.
Connelly’s singles win came against Beatrix Csordas, a freshman from Hungary, by scores of 6-2, 7-6. The other singles victory came from junior Liz Donohue (Sioux Falls, S.D./O’Gorman H.S.), who beat Brenda Leung of Ontario 6-1, 4-6, 1-0 (10-7). Donohue is 2-0 in this tournament and 9-3 for the fall.
The Indiana Invitational employs hidden dual scoring, which means that teams play simulated dual matches, but no team scores are recorded.
Indiana Invitational
Singles
Brook Buck (ND) def. Marina Parashkevova (DePaul) 6-2, 2-6, 1-0 (10-7)
Lauren Connelly (ND) def. Beatrix Csordas (D) 6-2, 7-6
Kristina Stastny (ND) def. #124 Gergana Ganeva (D) 6-2, 2-6, 1-0 (10-5)
Sarah Jane Connelly (ND) def. Anja Milhadinec (D) 6-1, 6-1
Liz Donohue (ND) def. Brenda Leung (D) 6-1, 4-6, 1-0 (10-7)
Bojana Murisic def. Bailey Louderback (ND) 6-1, 6-2
Doubles
Brooke Beier/Lara Burgarello (Purdue) def. Brook Buck/Lauren Connelly (ND) 8-5
Hala Sufi/Stephanie Wooten (Purdue) def. Sara Jane Connelly/Kristina Stastny (ND) 8-5
Brittany Minna/Amy Walgenbach (Purdue) def. Liz Donohue/Bailey Louderback (ND) 9-8
Brook Buck/Lauren Connelly (ND) def. Laura McGaffigan/Brianna Williams (Indiana) 8-2
Sara Jane Connelly/Kristina Stastny (ND) def. Dora Vastag/Dominika Walterova (IU) 8-5
Cecile Perton/Kara Zeder (IU) def. Liz Donohue/Bailey Louderback (ND) 8-2