April 17, 2009
TAMPA, Fla. – The fourth-ranked and top-seeded Irish women’s tennis team swept Pittsburgh, 4-0, Friday morning in a quarterfinal matchup at the BIG EAST Championships, earning a berth to the semifinal round set for Saturday.
Notre Dame is now 1-0 against Pittsburgh and 22-0, including 21 shutouts, in early-round (first round through semifinals) BIG EAST tournament matches.
The Irish started off strong, sweeping the doubles matches, to go up 1-0.
Cosmina Ciobanu and Kali Krisik downed Minh Evans and Adela Aprdu, 8-1, while Shannon Mathews and Colleen Rielley defeated Christie D’Achille and Shannon Benic, 8-0, to clinch the point for the Irish.
The third-ranked duo Kelcy Tefft and Kristy Frilling bested Elizabeth Adams and Kristy Borza, 8-1, at No. 1 doubles to complete the sweep.
Mathews handed D’Achille a 6-0, 6-1 defeat at No. 4 singles to give Notre Dame a 2-0 lead, before Kristen Rafael topped Benic, 6-2, 6-1, at sixth singles.
No. 35 Tefft clinched the win for the Irish with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Borza at No. 1 singles.
No. 37 Frilling was leading Adams, 6-1, 5-2 at No. 2 singles, Ciobanu was up 6-1, 4-0 over Evans at third singles and Krisik had won her first set, 7-5, over Aprdu at fifth singles when the match was called.
The Irish will face the winner of the Marquette-Rutgers match Saturday at noon.
Notre Dame is 11-1 all-time against Marquette, including a 7-0 win over the Golden Eagles this season. The Irish are 5-0 against Rutgers and last met the Scarlet Knights in the BIG EAST Tournament quarterfinals a year ago, where Notre Dame earned a 4-0 victory.
Complete results from Saturday’s match will be available at www.und.com.
–ND–