Oct. 7, 2000

PALO ALTO, Calif. — The Notre Dame men’s and women’s tennis teams finished sixth out of 16 teams at the WingspanBank.com/World Team Tennis National Collegiate Tennis Championships for the second consecutive year. The Irish team of senior Kimberly Guy, juniors Javier Taborga and Aaron Talarico and sophomore Katie Cunha edged Tulsa 25-24 in their first match to earn a spot in the fifth-place match against Mississippi State. After the 14th-ranked team of Cunha and Guy won 6-5 in women’s doubles in the first match, the Bulldogs won each of the last four sets to defeat Notre Dame 29-21. The event consist of 16 of the top teams in the country and uses a format of one set each of men’s and women’s singles and doubles and mixed doubles with the winner based on cumulative games won.

Against the Golden Hurricanes, Cunha and Guy gave the Irish a 6-1 lead after women’s doubles, but Tulsa cut into the lead as Shri Sudhaker defeated Aaron Talarico 6-4 in men’s singles to pull within 10-7. After ninth-ranked Taborga and Talarico won 6-5 in men’s doubles and Guy lost 6-5 in women’s singles, Notre Dame led 21-18 heading into mixed doubles. Tulsa used a 6-3 win to tie the match 24-24. The teams then played a mixed doubles tiebreaker to decide the winner, and Cunha and Taborga won that tiebreaker 7-5 for the 25-24 win.

With the win over Tulsa, Notre Dame finished second to Stanford in its pool with a 2-1 mark and advanced to the fifth-place match. The Irish defeated defending champion Texas A&M and lost to Stanford on Friday in its first two matches.

After Cunha and Guy won in women’s doubles, Mississippi State won 6-4 in men’s singles, 6-2 in men’s doubles and 6-4 in women’s singles to build a 23-16 lead after four sets. The Bulldogs ended any Irish comeback hopes with a 6-5 win in mixed doubles. The Irish also placed sixth last year in the inaugural World Team Tennis National Collegiate Tennis Championships and have recorded the highest finish of any Midwest region team both years. Stanford and South Alabama will meet in Sunday’s final for the championship.

Notre Dame 25, Tulsa 24 (1-0 in Supertiebreaker)

WD: Katie Cunha/Kimberly Guy (ND) def. Jennifer DeSpain/Jana Sedivac (T), 6-1 (6-1, ND)

MS: Shri Sudhaker (T) vs. Aaron Talarico (ND), 6-4 (10-7, ND)

MD: Javier Taborga/Talarico (ND) def. Shri Sudhaker/Timperley (T), 6-5 (16-12, ND)

WS: Alex Durska (T) def. Guy (ND), 6-5 (21-18, ND)

MX: DeSpain/Timperley (T) def. Cunha/Taborga (ND), 6-3 (24-24)

STB: Cunha/Taborga (ND) def. DeSpain/Timperley (T), 1-0 (7-5) (25-24, ND)

Fifth-Place Match

Mississippi State 29, Notre Dame 21

WD: Katie Cunha/Kimberly Guy (ND) def. Amelie Detriviere/Claudia Oliveira (MSU), 6-5 (6-5, ND)

MS: Charles Sevigny (MSU) def. Javier Taborga (ND), 6-4 (11-10, MSU)

MD: Chris McDonald/Charles Sevigny (MSU) def. Taborga/Aaron Talarico (ND), 6-2 (17-12, MSU)

WS: Detriviere (MSU) def. Cunha (ND), 6-4 (23-16, MSU)

MX: Detriviere/Sevigny (MSU) def. Guy/Talarico (ND), 6-5 (29-21, MSU)