May 25, 2011
PALO ALTO, Calif. – Shannon Mathews (Birmingham, Mich.) and Kristy Frilling (Sidney, Ohio), juniors on the University of Notre Dame women’s tennis team, opened their 2011 NCAA Singles Championship on Wednesday at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium. Mathews advanced into the second round while Frilling was upset in her opening match.
Mathews struggled out of the gates against McCall Jones of UCLA, dropping the opening set, 6-2. The Irish junior, however, would not go away without a fight, battling back against her opponent to tie the match at one set apiece after winning the second set, 6-1. After a rain delay put the third and final set on hold for a short time, Mathews and Jones returned to the court trading games much of the decisive set, but Mathews pulled out a crucial break to claim the third set, 7-5, and her opening round matchup.
Frilling’s match with Connie Hsu of Penn was pushed nearly an hour and a half behind its scheduled start time due to the early afternoon rain, and the Sidney, Ohio, native struggled to get going. After pulling ahead 3-1 and up 40-15 in her service game, Frilling eventually dropped the game and then the set, 6-4. She stormed back in the second set, 6-1, to level the match but could not overcome Hsu in the third set, falling 6-0 to end her singles tournament.
Mathews advances to face Washington’s Venise Chan on Thursday, who disposed of Monica Arguello of Furman in her opener (6-3, 6-0). Chan is ranked as a 9-16 seed in the singles draw. Frilling and Mathews also begin their doubles draw on Thursday as they take on Vanderbilt’s Rachael Dillon and Alex Leatu. The two teams met once previously this season, with the Irish tandem coming out on top, 8-0, over the Commodore pairing.
Times for all matches on Thursday are yet to be determined. For a complete bracket and updated match times as they become available, be sure to check the NCAA Tournament Central Page at www.gostanford.com and for a complete recap of Frilling and Mathews check back with www.und.com upon conclusion of their matches.
NCAA Singles Championship - First Round:Connie Hsu (PENN) def. #5 Kristy Frilling (ND) 6-4, 1-6, 6-0#56 Shannon Mathews (ND) def. #57 McCall Jones (UCLA) 2-6, 6-1, 7-5
–ND–