April 7, 2006
The Notre Dame women’s tennis class that signed national letters of intent in November has been listed by TennisRecruiting.net as the top class in the nation, it was announced today. The group of Cosmina Ciobanu (Brea, Calif./Troy H.S.), Kali Krisik (Arkansas City, Kan./Arkansas City H.S.), and Colleen Rielley (Overland Park, Kan./Bishop Miege H.S.) will join head coach Jay Louderback’s squad – which is currently ranked second in the nation – in the fall. Notre Dame is the only school to be in the top five of the current ITA national rankings, while also boasting one of the top five recruiting classes.
The Irish are the only team that has signed two (Rielley and Ciobanu) of the 19 players dubbed by TennisRecruiting.net as “Blue Chip” recruits. The website’s current rankings of the top high school seniors have Rielley listed third, with Ciobanu 14th, and Krisik 49th. It also publishes a Tennis RPI listing, in which Rielley – who was ranked first in the USTA 18-and-under national rankings at the time of her signing – is #1, Ciobanu is fourth, and Krisik is 54th. For the original release on the signing of these players, see http://und.cstv.com/sports/w-tennis/spec-rel/111505aaa.html.
Following Notre Dame in the listing of top classes were Princeton, Georgia Tech, Duke, and Virginia. Two-time defending NCAA champion and current national #1 Stanford was 15th. For the complete list, see tennisrecruiting.net.