April 18, 2002
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The 20th-ranked University of Notre Dame women’s tennis team will set out in search of its fifth BIG EAST Conference title in the last seven years when it takes part in the 2002 BIG EAST Championship this weekend at the Neil Schiff Tennis Complex on the University of Miami campus in Coral Gables, Fla. The Irish are the defending champions this season, having downed Miami, 4-1, in last year’s title match. UM is hosting the BIG EAST Championship for the ninth year in a row.
For the seventh consecutive season, Notre Dame is the top seed in the tournament and has been rewarded with a bye through the quarterfinal round. The Irish will face either No. 4 seed Boston College or fifth-seeded Syracuse at 9 a.m. (EDT) Saturday in the semifinal round. The championship and third-place matches are scheduled for 9 a.m. (EDT) Sunday.
LAST WEEK’S ACTION: Notre Dame gained a critical road split in its final two matches of the regular season, toppling No. 14 William & Mary, 5-2, before falling at 10th-ranked Texas by the same 5-2 score.
The Irish garnered their second win of the season over a top-20 opponent when they defeated W&M last Saturday in Williamsburg, Va. Senior Lindsey Green (El Cajon, Calif.), junior Katie Cunha (Mercer Island, Wash.), sophomore Alicia Salas (Engelwood, Colo.) and freshman Sarah Jane Connelly (Oklahoma City, Okla.) all were double winners for Notre Dame, which won its fifth consecutive match over the Tribe and improved to 7-4 all-time against W&M.
Connelly and Salas got the Irish going with an 8-6 win at No. 3 doubles, giving the visitors their second win in the tandem competition and the important first point of the match. Connelly then added a 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 6 singles and Green chalked up a 6-2, 6-4 triumph at the No. 2 flight to put Notre Dame on the verge of the team victory. Cunha, who had come into the match with five clinching singles victories to her credit this season, added to her total with a 6-3, 6-3 win at the No. 5 spot to preserve the win. Salas finished off the victory with a 7-5, 6-4 conquest at No. 4 singles.
The Irish then fought back from an early three-point deficit Monday night at Texas, but it was not enough to overcome the Longhorns in the first meeting between the two squads since 1998. UT swept the doubles competition and took the first and third singles contests to move quickly to the brink of victory. However, the youthful duo of Salas and Connelly posted wins at No. 4 and No. 5 singles to pull Notre Dame within 3-2. However, Texas recovered and took the final two singles matches in straight sets to hold off the Irish upset bid. In defeat, Salas recorded her 30th win of the season, becoming the 24th player in school history to reach that milestone. In addition, she raised her dual match record to 23-2 this season, tying her for fifth on the Irish single-season wins list and putting her within one victory of the school record (24) currently held by three different players.
IRISH IN THE BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIP: Notre Dame was named the top seed in the 2002 BIG EAST Championship, which will take place Friday through Sunday at the Neil Schiff Tennis Complex in Coral Gables, Fla. For the second year, the format of the tournament will be a single-elimination tournament of the top six teams in the league, as selected by the conference, with the top two seeds gaining first-round byes. The winner receives the BIG EAST’s automatic berth into the NCAA Championships, which begin at campus sites on May 11. The Irish have earned the No. 1 seed in each of their seven years in the conference, advancing to the final in each of the past six years to face Miami, winning titles in 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2001.
Play gets underway Friday morning with fourth-seeded Boston College and the fifth seed, Syracuse, playing at 9 a.m (EDT). In the other quarterfinal matchup, the No. 3 seed Virginia Tech will face sixth-seeded Rutgers at noon. The semifinals are set for Saturday with the Irish taking on the BC-Syracuse winner at 9 a.m., followed by No. 2 seed and host Miami facing the VT-Rutgers winner at noon. Friday’s losing teams will play at 3 p.m. Saturday in consolation action. The championship and third-place matches are both slated for 9 a.m. Sunday.
A season ago, the Irish defeated Virginia Tech 4-0 in the semifinals and ousted defending champion and second-seeded Miami 4-1 in the championship. The Irish collected the doubles point and three singles matches to lock up their fourth BIG EAST title in six years. Michelle Dasso and current senior Becky Varnum (Colorado Springs, Colo.) both were double winners in Notre Dame’s championship victory, teaming for an 8-1 win at No. 1 doubles and earning singles wins at the No. 1 and No. 2 flights. Varnum provided the final point for the Irish at No. 2, rallying from a one-set deficit to defeat Miami’s Alanna Broderick, 2-6, 6-1, 7-5.
Five Notre Dame players have past experience playing in the BIG EAST Championship. Most notably, Varnum is 5-1 in singles (two abandoned matches) and 4-1 in doubles (one abandoned) and earned the title-clinching victory a year ago. Senior Nina Vaughan (Corona del Mar, Calif.) also has done well in conference tournament play, going 3-1 in singles (one abandoned) and 1-0 in doubles (two abandoned), while senior Lindsey Green (El Cajon, Calif.) is 3-2 in singles (two abandoned) and 4-1 in doubles (one abandoned). Both Vaughan and Green were instrumental in last year’s championship, teaming up for an 8-6 win at No. 3 doubles which clinched the opening point for the Irish.
Notre Dame head coach Jay Louderback has been named BIG EAST Coach of the Year five times, including each of the last three seasons. Louderback’s charges currently are ranked 20th in the country and enter this year’s BIG EAST Championship as the only conference squad ranked in the top 35 nationwide.
Notre Dame has experienced a tremendous amount of success against BIG EAST opponents over the years, compiling a superb 27-2 record against current league members. In fact, Miami is the only BIG EAST team to solve the Irish, going 2-7 against Notre Dame with both victories coming in conference championship matches (4-2 in 1998 and 5-2 in 2000). In tournament play, the Irish have a 15-2 record and have registered shutout victories in all 11 non-championship matches (second round and semifinals) since joining the conference in 1996.
Aside from Miami, Notre Dame has never lost to another BIG EAST opponent, going 20-0 against the rest of the league all-time. Among the other combatants in this year’s championship field, the Irish are 2-0 against Virginia Tech (including a 7-0 win back on Feb. 24 at home), 6-0 vs. Boston College (which hasn’t taken a point from Notre Dame since ’92), 3-0 against Syracuse and 3-0 vs. Rutgers.
Prior to joining the BIG EAST, Notre Dame competed in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference in women’s tennis from 1989-95. The Irish won seven consecutive league titles and Louderback was honored three times as the conference’s top coach (1989, 1990, 1993).
BIG EAST’S BEST: The University of Notre Dame is threatening the conference record for BIG EAST championships in an academic year. The Irish already have captured league titles in five sports this season — men’s cross country, women’s soccer, volleyball, women’s swimming and diving, and women’s indoor track and field. The BIG EAST record for championships in a season is six, set by Notre Dame in 1996-97, when Irish teams captured crowns in men’s soccer, women’s soccer, volleyball, women’s swimming and diving, men’s golf, and women’s tennis. The Irish have three opportunities to add to this season’s total this weekend, with the men’s and women’s tennis championships in Coral Gables, Fla., as well as the BIG EAST men’s golf championship, which is slated for this Saturday and Sunday at the Warren Golf Course in Notre Dame, Ind. The Irish are the third seed for that championship, while both tennis teams are seeded first.
AMONG THE NATION’S ELITE: Notre Dame has appeared in the top 25 of the Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis Rankings throughout the 2002 spring season, topping out at No. 13 on Jan. 30. The Irish held that spot for two weeks before losses to No. 4 Vanderbilt and No. 16 North Carolina at the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championships halted their rise. The first eight polls were conducted via balloting from the ITA National Ranking Committee. Beginning March 20 and for the remainder of the season, the rankings are based on the ITA’s point-per-match computer formula, in which teams are awarded points for victories based on their opponent’s ranking.
Now standing 20th, Notre Dame has been ranked in the national top 25 in 114 consecutive sets of rankings released by the ITA. After finishing the previous season 28th, the Irish earned a preseason ranking of 18th in the fall of 1995 and have been in the top 25 ever since, peaking at a school-record No. 5 midway through last season.
In addition to its team placing, Notre Dame has two singles players and a doubles team in the national rankings. In singles, senior Becky Varnum (Colorado Springs, Colo.) is slotted at No. 112, while sophomore Alicia Salas (Engelwood, Colo.) is ranked 123rd, the highest placing of her young career.
In doubles competition, Varnum and classmate Lindsey Green (El Cajon, Calif.) remain firmly entrenched in the rankings, checking in at No. 38 in the latest survey, despite not playing together in the last seven regular-season matches. The Irish tandem is 17-13 this year and has been a fixture on the national scene, having been ranked 23rd in the fall and remaining in the top 40 since then. In fact, Varnum has been ranked in the national top 40 in doubles in each of the past 26 sets of rankings, dating back to the fall 1999 survey.
VARNUM DOUBLES DOMINANCE: Senior Becky Varnum (Colorado Springs, Colo.) has put together one of the most successful doubles careers in the history of Irish women’s tennis. She has a record of 103-51, placing her as the second-winningest doubles player in school history behind her two-year doubles partner and 2001 graduate Michelle Dasso, who finished her career with a record of 109-42. Dasso and Varnum, who were ranked in the top 10 all year and peaked at No. 5, earned All-America honors a season ago to become just the fourth Irish doubles team to do so since the program attained Division I status. In 2001, Varnum shattered the school record for doubles wins in a season, compiling a 37-9 mark. The Irish captain has been a fixture in the national doubles rankings throughout the past three seasons, having been ranked in the national doubles top 40 in each of the past 26 sets of rankings. She has been responsible for a number of big wins, registering 24 victories over ranked opponents in her career. Varnum and Dasso knocked off teams ranked in the top 10 on four occasions, including an upset of the nation’s No. 1 doubles team of Palencia and Senoglu from Pepperdine last spring. Varnum is 21-19 this season in doubles.
CENTURY CITY: Prior to last season, Laura Lee (’85) and Susie Panther (’86) were the only players in school history to collect 100 doubles victories. The list has now expanded to five. Michelle Dasso, a 2001 graduate, finished her career with 109 doubles wins, topping Panther’s total of 101 and Lee’s mark of 100. Two members of the class of 2002 have reached the century mark this season: Becky Varnum (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Lindsey Green (El Cajon, Calif.). Varnum/Green’s win against Illinois on March 27 put the Irish captain into triple digits, while Green’s 100th win came against Duke on April 1. Entering this weekend’s BIG EAST Championship, both players are tied for second with 103 career doubles wins at Notre Dame.
SENSATIONAL SALAS: After not being a regular part of the Irish lineup a season ago, sophomore Alicia Salas (Engelwood, Colo.) has been the most consistent winner for Notre Dame in 2001-02. She leads the team in both singles and doubles victories and has posted a 23-2 mark in dual singles matches (tied for fifth in school history) and a 17-8 dual doubles record. In fact, Salas is a stunning 46-9 in her career in singles matches. This season, she is 30-5 in singles, becoming the 24th player in school history to reach the 30-win plateau. She also has won 26 of her last 28 matches. She is 3-0 this spring against ranked opponents, including back-to-back wins on March 30 and April 1 over #81 Katie Martzolf of Wake Forest and 64th-ranked Saras Arasu of Duke, the latter being the highest-ranked opponent she has defeated in her career. Salas also knocked off 77th-ranked Agnes Wiski of Tennessee earlier this year. In doubles, she and senior Nina Vaughan (Corona del Mar, Calif.) notched an upset victory over Kentucky’s 27th-ranked team of Jill Buckley and Amy Trefethen, 8-4 earlier this spring. Salas has been particularly dominant at home this season, going 16-1 in singles and 14-2 in doubles at the Eck Tennis Pavilion.
IRISH FACED TOUGH SLATE: The Irish tackled a difficult schedule in 2002 and recently completed a very challenging seven-match stretch to finish the regular season. Entering this weekend’s BIG EAST Championship, the Irish have faced 10 teams currently ranked in the top 25, five in the top 10 and have had three matches against teams who were ranked in the national top five at the time of the match. Overall, 22 of the 25 opponents on Notre Dame’s regular-season schedule were ranked at first serve and 18 now are ranked in the top 50. Fifteen 2002 opponents participated in the NCAA tournament a year ago, including six squads that advanced to the round of 16. The Irish collected 10 wins over ranked foes this season, including a 5-2 triumph over No. 7 USC on Feb. 7, and a 5-2 win at 14th-ranked William & Mary on April 13.
DOUBLES SHAKEUP: After claiming the doubles point in eight of the first 13 matches of the season, the Irish have struggled in that facet of late. Notre Dame has won the initial point of the match just five times in its last 12 matches, though a number of those were hotly contested. In those seven doubles-point defeats, four times the deciding match came down to an 8-6 score, once it was 9-7 and once a tiebreaker decided the point.
Irish head coach Jay Louderback has juggled the doubles lineup twice this season. He opened the year with the teams of Green/Varnum, Connelly/Cunha and Salas/Vaughan, which won the doubles point in each of the first three matches, but then lost it in four of the next five, prompting a change immediately after the National Team Indoor Championships. The Irish lineup then consisted primarily of Green/Varnum, Cunha/Vaughan and Connelly/Salas. These combinations won the doubles point in four of the next five matches, but then lost it in three of the following five, prompting another switch. Prior to Notre Dame’s spring break trip to North Carolina March 30-April 2, the new teams of Cunha/Green, Varnum/Vaughan and Connelly/Salas were unveiled, but Notre Dame still dropped the doubles point in all three matches. They have since recovered to win the doubles marker in three of their final four matches (vs. #19 Northwestern, #27 Miami and #14 William & Mary).
IRISH INK THREE: In November, Jay Louderback announced the signing of three incoming freshman for the 2002-03 school year. Lauren Connelly (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Jennifer Smith (Charlotte, N.C.) and Kristina Stastny (St. Louis, Mo.) have signed national letters of intent to enroll at Notre Dame next year and join the Irish tennis team in the fall. All three are ranked among the top 25 current high school seniors in the country and they have combined for seven state high school titles and four national doubles titles in junior competition. Connelly is ranked 58th nationally among players 18 and younger and is the 25th-ranked high school senior. She has a National Indoors doubles title to her credit, as well as three Oklahoma state titles at No. 2 singles, playing behind her sister, current Irish freshman Sarah Jane Connelly (Oklahoma City, Okla.). Smith, who did not participate in prep tennis, is ranked 26th in the country in the 18-and-under division and is 10th nationally among high school seniors. She also has a national doubles title to her credit, coming at the National Hardcourt championships. Stastny recently captured her fourth state singles title, becoming the first player in history to win four Missouri state championships in singles. Stastny is ranked 21st in the 18s and is the eighth-ranked player in the nation who will enroll in college next fall. She has won doubles titles in the National Indoors and the National Clay Court championships. Stastny’s brother, Yan, was one of the top freshmen on the Notre Dame hockey team and her father, Peter, is a member of the National Hockey League Hall of Fame.
— ND —