May 21, 2005
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NCAA Division I Women’s Tennis Singles & Doubles Championships
Athens, Georgia • Dan Magill Tennis Complex
Monday, May 23: Singles Round of 64, 9 a.m. (EDT)
Tuesday, May 24: Singles Round of 32, Doubles Round of 32, 9 a.m.
Wednesday, May 25: Singles Round of 16, Doubles Round of 16, 9 a.m.
Thursday, May 26: Singles Quarterfinals, Doubles Quarterfinals, 11 a.m.
Friday, May 27: Singles Semifinals, Doubles Semifinals, 11 a.m.
Saturday, May 28: Singles Final, Doubles Final, 1 p.m.
– Live Scoring (All Matches): georgiadogs.com (also linked on und.com)
– Television (Finals Only): Tennis Channel (airing June 4 at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. EDT)
THOMPSON TWINS HEAD TO GEORGIA FOR NCAA INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: Sophomore twins Catrina Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) and Christian Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) will head to Athens, Ga., for the season-ending NCAA Championships, slated for May 23-28 at the University of Georgia’s Dan Magill Tennis Complex. Catrina Thompson, ranked 44th, will be in the national singles championship, while the sisters, ranked #6, will try to continue their success in this season’s collegiate grand slam, taking part in the NCAA doubles tournament. The Thompsons are the only doubles team in the country to have reached the semifinals in both of the first two grand-slam events.
LIVE SCORING: Fans and media unable to attend the NCAA Championships will be able to follow all of the action via live scoring available on the official website of Georgia athletics, georgiadogs.com. It also will be linked on Notre Dame’s site, und.com.
FOLLOWING THE NCAAs: There will be televised coverage of the NCAA Championships, as ESPN2 will broadcast the team title match on a tape-delayed basis, airing on Thursday, May 26 at 3 p.m. EDT (2 p.m. in South Bend). Live audio coverage of the semifinals and final will be available for free via radiotennis.com, beginning at 11 a.m. EDT (10 a.m. in South Bend) on May 21 and Noon EDT (11 a.m. in South Bend) on May 22. Additionally, the Tennis Channel will show the singles final on Saturday, June 4 at 8 p.m. EDT (7 p.m. in South Bend) and the doubles final that same night at 10 p.m. EDT (9 p.m. in South Bend). The site ncaasports.com will provide live scoring of all matches in the team, singles, and doubles championships.
IRISH IN THE NCAA SINGLES CHAMPIONSHIP: The NCAA Singles Championship is a 64-player single-elimination tournament of the top players in the country. It begins on Monday, May 23 and proceeds with one round per day until the final, slated for May 28. The 16 seeded players, as well as any competitors that win two matches to reach the round of 16, automatically assure themselves of All-America honors. The top 20 in the final ITA rankings also are All-Americans. This is the 15th time in the last 16 years that Notre Dame has had at least one player qualify for the NCAA Singles Championship. CeCe Cahill was the first Irish player to qualify for the tournament, in 1989. Melissa Harris became the first Notre Dame player to win a match in the event, beating Northwestern’s Lindsay Matthews in three sets in ’91. Jennifer Hall reached the round of 16 in 1996, which stood as the best result by an Irish competitor before current assistant coach Michelle Dasso advanced to the semifinals in 2001 before losing to eventual national champion Laura Granville of Stanford, who went on to be ranked among the top 30 in the world. A year ago, Alicia Salas earned her second straight invitation, but withdrew due to injury. In 2003, she and Caylan Leslie both fell in the opening round. No Irish player has won a match in the event since Dasso’s run in ’01.
IRISH IN THE NCAA DOUBLES CHAMPIONSHIP: The NCAA Doubles Championship is a 32-team single-elimination tournament of the top duos in the country. It begins on Tuesday, May 24 and proceeds with one round per day until the final, slated for May 28. The eight seeded teams, as well as any pairs that win two matches to reach the quarterfinals, automatically assure themselves of All-America honors. The top 10 in the final ITA rankings also are All-Americans. Sophomore twins Christian Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) and Catrina Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) earned an invitation for the second consecutive year, becoming the fifth ND doubles team to do that. In 2004, they were the first all-freshman team from any school since 1998 to earn a bid. The Thompsons won in three sets in the opening round and fell in three in the second round. The first Irish duo to participate was Wendy Crabtree and Lisa Tholen in 1993. Though they fell in the opening round, the same pair upset the eighth seed and reached the quarterfinals in 1994. In 1998, Tiffany Gates and Jennifer Hall duplicated that feat before losing to the tournament’s second seed. Hall and current assistant coach Michelle Dasso advanced to the round of eight in ’99 before losing to the top-seeded pair.
THOMPSON vs. NCAA SINGLES CHAMPIONSHIP FIELD: Sophomore Catrina Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) has previously faced 12 other NCAA singles qualifiers in collegiate action, including 11 of them this season. This season, she went 5-6 against NCAA singles participants and 1-0 vs. alternates. In her career, Thompson is 5-8 vs. the field and 3-2 against the alternates.
THOMPSONS vs. NCAA DOUBLES CHAMPIONSHIP FIELD: Freshmen Christian Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) and Catrina Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) played 12 matches this season against teams that earned bids to the NCAA Doubles Championship, going 8-4. Additionally, the Thompsons won three other matches against teams that featured one player who is in the NCAA doubles tourney. In their careers, the Thompsons are 8-6 against the teams in the field and 5-4 against pairs that had one player make this year’s event.
Catrina Thompson ONE OF JUST TWO PLAYERS TO HAVE WINS OVER TOP-THREE SEEDS IN SINGLES & DOUBLES: Only two players in Division I — Georgia’s Shadisha Robinson and Catrina Thompson of Notre Dame — have registered a victory against at least one of the top three seeds in the NCAA Singles Championship and a win against at least one of the top three seeds in the NCAA Doubles Championship. The Irish sophomore actually has wins over two of the top three seeds in the doubles event, having beaten the third seed, Audrey Banada and Megan Bradley of Miami, 8-5 on Nov. 5 in the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships before topping the second-seeded duo of Audra Cohen and Cristelle Grier by an 8-3 score on May 14 in the second round of the NCAAs. Thompson beat Cohen, the #3 seed in singles, 6-2, 6-2 on April 14 in dual-match action.
THOMPSONS ONLY SQUAD WITH MULTIPLE WINS OVER TOP FOUR SEEDS: Sophomore twins Catrina Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) and Christian Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) are the only doubles team in the nation to have multiple wins against the top four seeds in the NCAA Doubles Championship. The Thompsons beat the third seed, Audrey Banada and Megan Bradley of Miami, 8-5 on Nov. 5 in the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships before topping the second-seeded duo of Audra Cohen and Cristelle Grier by an 8-3 score on May 14 in the second round of the NCAAs.
IRISH HEAD COACH: Jay Louderback is in his 16th season at Notre Dame with a 282-146 (.659) record and his 26th year as a collegiate coach with a 486-324 (.600) mark. He ranks fifth among active NCAA Division I coaches in career victories. Louderback’s Irish have finished in the national top 30 in each of the last 12 seasons and have won 12 conference titles. Since the preseason of the 1992-93 season, Louderback’s teams have been in the national top 30 in 201 of 203 sets of ITA rankings. After taking over a program looking for its first NCAA tournament appearance, Louderback has helped Notre Dame to the NCAAs 12 times in the last 13 years (which only 10 other schools have done), including five appearances in the round of 16 and a 1996 quarterfinal finish. Louderback, a four-time Midwest Region coach of the year, has been honored as his conference’s top coach on eight occasions, including five times in nine years in the BIG EAST. In his time at Notre Dame, Louderback’s players have earned All-America honors 13 times, won four national ITA awards, and earned 20 invitations to the NCAA Singles Championship and 12 to the NCAA doubles tournament. His players have dominated the University awards during Louderback’s tenure, leading all sports in both Byron V. Kanaley awards (six) and Francis Patrick O’Connor awards (six). His family was honored with the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Tennis Family of the Year Award for 2002. The Arkansas City, Kan., native, and 1976 graduate of Wichita State arrived at Notre Dame prior to the 1989-90 season after coaching for seven years at his alma mater and three years (men and women) at Iowa State.
ITA RANKINGS: Despite being idle, Notre Dame moved up one spot to 23rd in the penultimate edition of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) national rankings, released on May 2. The Irish were 21st to begin the spring before peaking at 20th (Feb. 15 and 22) and then falling to 31st (April 5) prior to climbing back into the top 25. Notre Dame has two ranked singles players and a pair of ranked doubles teams. Sophomore Catrina Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) is 44th in singles and sixth in doubles, with her twin sister, Christian Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.). Freshman Brook Buck (Yukon, Okla./Bishop Gorman H.S.) is 87th in singles. The final team and individual rankings for the season will be released June 3.
Catrina Thompson NAMED BIG EAST TOURNAMENT MVP: Sophomore Catrina Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) became the first Irish player in four years to be named the BIG EAST Women’s Tennis Most Outstanding Tournament Performer, when the conference awards were announced last month. She is the third Irish player to win the BIG EAST’s highest individual award, joining Jennifer Hall (1996) and current assistant coach Michelle Dasso (2000 and ’01). She was the only player to emerge victorious in singles in both the semifinals and final. Initially, Thompson topped Barbora Blahutiakova of St. John’s 6-2, 6-0 at No. 1 before defeating Syracuse’s Victoria Vaynberg 6-3, 6-1 in the title match. In doubles, she first defeated Allison Davidson and Hande Gorur 8-4 in the final match on court to clinch the doubles point in the semis. In the final, Thompson again provided the clinching victory, topping Vaynberg and Catherine Zawadzki 8-3 at No. 1. She improved to 8-1 in her career in doubles against BIG EAST foes.
Catrina Thompson VOTED TEAM MVP: Sophomore Catrina Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) was voted the team’s Notre Dame Monogram Club Most Valuable Player by her teammates. Playing atop both Irish lineups, she holds a 23-9 record in singles, including 17-8 in dual action at No. 1, and a 29-6 mark in doubles (21-4 at No. 1). Thompson earned invitations to both the NCAA singles and doubles tournaments, and she is ranked 44th nationally in singles and sixth in doubles. She has made No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles the winningest positions in the ND lineups this season, her first playing atop the singles lineup and her second at No. 1 doubles. Thompson is the first sophomore to win the award since Alicia Salas did so in 2001-02.
IRISH DOMINATE BIG EAST ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAMS: Notre Dame took up four of the six spots on the all-tournament team, as well as two of three in doubles, when the BIG EAST Conference awards were announced last month. Sophomore Catrina Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) — who was the tournament MVP — her twin sister Christian Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.), and freshman Brook Buck (Yukon, Okla./Oklahoma Christian School) all earned BIG EAST accolades in both singles and doubles. Senior captain Sarah Jane Connelly (Oklahoma City, Okla./Bishop McGuinness H.S.) was a singles selection and her sister, junior Lauren Connelly (Oklahoma City, Okla./Bishop McGuinness H.S.), garnered doubles honors.
THOMPSONS EARN SEED IN NCAA DOUBLES CHAMPIONSHIP, CLINCH ALL-AMERICA HONORS: Sophomore twins Catrina Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) and Christian Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.), currently ranked sixth in Division I after becoming the first Notre Dame doubles team ever to reach #1 earlier this spring, earned one of the No. 5-8 seeds in the NCAA Doubles Championship, slated for May 24-28 at the University of Georgia’s Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens. The seeding guarantees that they will be named All-Americans by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) at the conclusion of the season. The Thompsons stand 27-6 on the season, including a 14-3 mark against nationally-ranked teams (4-1 vs. higher-ranked teams). They were 19-4 at No. 1 doubles this season and have won six of their last eight, despite closing the regular season with their first two-match losing skid of 2004-05. The Thompsons are 19-5 on the road this season and 14-3 outdoors. After finishing their rookie campaign – in which they became the first all-freshman doubles team from any Division I school since 1998 to earn a trip to the NCAA doubles tournament – 26th in the rankings, the sisters were #7 in the preseason, and they ascended to the top spot on Feb. 22. The Thompsons – who were the top-ranked 18-and-under girls’ doubles team in the U.S. prior to their arrival at Notre Dame – last year upset the 15th-ranked team of Cynthya Goulet and Jennifer McGaffigan in three sets in the opening round of the NCAA doubles event, but then lost in three sets against Megan Muth and Amy Wei of William & Mary. The Thompsons played 12 matches against NCAA qualifiers this season – including six straight last fall – posting an 8-4 record. The Thompson twins were the only team in the country to reach the semifinals of the first two legs of the collegiate grand slam. They were the runners-up in last October’s Riviera/ITA All-American Championships before falling in the semis of the November ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships. The twins will try to complete the grand slam with another strong showing at the NCAAs, which has never seen an Irish team reach the semis (three have lost in the quarterfinals). Only six other teams earned invitations to both the ’04 and ’05 events, with the others being Sarah Foster/Aibika Kalsarieva (Kentucky), Chloe Carlotti/Virginia Tomatis (Mississippi), Kentdall Cline/Aniela Mojzis (North Carolina), Katie Ruckert/Kendra Strohm (Texas), Dianne Hollands/Maja Mlakar (Arizona), and Michelle DaCosta/Kara Delicata (Michigan).
Catrina Thompson EARNS INVITATIONS TO NCAA SINGLES & DOUBLES TOURNAMENTS: Sophomore Catrina Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) earned invitations to both the NCAA Division I Women’s Tennis Singles Championship and the NCAA doubles tournament – along with her twin sister, Christian Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) – when the fields for the national individual championships were announced. Catrina Thompson is in an elite group of just 28 players in the country that earned spots in both the singles and doubles draws. The events are slated for May 23-28 at the University of Georgia’s Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga. She enters the postseason ranked 44th nationally in singles and sixth in doubles. This also marks the 10th time in the last 13 years that a Notre Dame player has garnered a spot in both the NCAA singles and doubles championships, but it was done previously by just three individuals: Wendy Crabtree (1993, ’94, ’95), Jennifer Hall (1997, ’98, ’99), and current assistant coach Michelle Dasso (1999, 2000, ’01). Thompson currently stands 23-9 on the season, with a 11-9 record against nationally-ranked players (5-3 against higher-ranked foes). She has a 17-8 mark in her first season at No. 1 singles – being the first sophomore to play No. 1 for ND since Dasso did so in 1999. Thompson, who was named the BIG EAST tournament MVP, has a 17-5 record away from home this season and an 9-5 mark outdoors. She is 21-0 when winning the opening set and 11-3 vs. regional opponents, including an impressive 6-2, 6-2 upset of Northwestern’s Audra Cohen in dual-match action last month (it was the freshman phenom’s first straight-set defeat of her collegiate career). Thompson was ranked 103rd in the preseason, and she peaked at a career-high 32nd in February. Ten of her matches this season came against players that earned NCAA berths, and Thompson held a 5-5 record against that group, with the victories coming against Harvard’s Courtney Bergman, North Carolina’s Aniela Mojzis, Petra Dizdar of Texas, Oklahoma State’s Iryna Tkachenko, and Cohen. The other elite players who earned NCAA invitations in both singles and doubles were Alice Barnes (Stanford), Daniela Bercek (UCLA), Megan Bradley (Miami), Erin Burdette (Stanford), Chloe Carlotti (Mississippi), Kendall Cline (North Carolina), Karin Coetzee (Wake Forest), Audra Cohen (Northwestern), Julie Coin (Clemson), Kim Coventry (Kentucky), Audra Falk (Vanderbilt), Zsuzsanna Fodor (Mississippi State), Sarah Foster (Kentucky), Cristelle Grier (Northwestern), Dianne Hollands (Arizona), Maja Kovacek (New Mexico), Amber Liu (Stanford), Kristi Miller (Georgia Tech), Aniela Mojzis (North Carolina), Mihaela Moldovan (Florida State), Megan Moulton-Levy (William & Mary), Zerene Reyes (Florida), Shadisha Robinson (Georgia), Story Tweedie-Yates (TCU), Anne Yelsey (Stanford), Marianna Yuferova (Virginia Commonwealth), and Riza Zalameda (UCLA). That group of 28 features 16 players from the ITA’s South Region and seven more from the West Region, while two others – Cohen and Grier – are from the Midwest Region. Fifteen of the players are Americans, while 12 are still in the first half of their collegiate careers. Thompson is one of just eight players to fall into both of those categories, establishing her as one of the top young Americans in the college game. The others in that group are Cohen, Foster, Miller, Moulton-Levy, Robinson, Yelsey, and Zalameda.
TOP HEAVY: Notre Dame’s strongest positions in both singles and doubles this season have been the No. 1 spots, largely thanks to sophomore Catrina Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.). In singles, Thompson – who played No. 3 last season – has compiled a 16-7 record. She also holds a 19-4 mark at No. 1 doubles, playing most of the time with her twin sister, sophomore Christian Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.), while also going unbeaten in two matches with junior Kristina Stastny (St. Louis, Mo./St. Joseph’s Academy). Notre Dame’s second-best spot in singles has been No. 5, where it is 13-8. In doubles, the Irish are 15-7 at No. 3.
Catrina Thompson NOTCHES HISTORIC WIN OVER NORTHWESTERN’S AUDRA COHEN: Sophomore Catrina Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.), then ranked 37th nationally in singles, upset the nation’s #3-ranked player, Audra Cohen of Northwestern, 6-2, 6-2 on April 14 in Notre Dame’s dual-match loss to the Wildcats. The freshman phenom, who came into the match with a 39-4 record, had not previously lost a straight-set decision in 43 collegiate matches, and she has not dropped a set in six consecutive wins since then. Cohen began the season with 23 consecutive victories, claiming the singles titles in the first leg of the grand slam, the Riviera/Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-American Championships and ascending to the national #1 ranking. It was the highest-ranked victory of Thompson’s career and was the third time this spring that she improved upon her highest-career win. After her top win was previously an upset of #39 Megan Muth of William & Mary in the fall of 2003, Thompson topped #27 Courtney Bergman of Harvard 6-1, 6-4 on Feb. 11 and then beat #26 Aniela Mojzis of North Carolina nine days later. The last time a Notre Dame player defeated one of the nation’s top three players in singles was Jan. 21, 2001, when current assistant coach Michelle Dasso, ranked third at the time, topped #2 Ansley Cargill of Duke 6-2, 6-3 at No. 1 singles in dual-match action.
Catrina Thompson FIRST SOPHOMORE SINCE 1999 TO PLAY No. 1 FOR ND: Catrina Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) has played No. 1 singles for the Irish in every dual match this spring, going 16-7. She is the first sophomore to play at the top of the Notre Dame singles lineup since current assistant coach Michelle Dasso went 23-4 in the slot in the spring of 1999.
THOMPSONS ASCEND TO NATIONAL #1 RANKING IN DOUBLES: Sophomore twins Catrina Thompson and Christian Thompson became the first University of Notre Dame women’s tennis duo to be ranked #1 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) national doubles rankings, when the Feb. 22 edition was released. Following a rookie season in which they went 22-17 and became the first all-freshman doubles team from any school since 1998 to earn a spot in the NCAA Doubles Championship, the Thompsons were #7 in the preseason ITA rankings, released last fall. They proceeded to put together a fall season in which they went 8-2, became the first Notre Dame team ever to reach the title match of a collegiate grand-slam event, and stand as the only duo in all of college tennis to reach the semifinals of both of the first two grand slams. That moved them up to #2 on Jan. 11 and then to the top spot. Since then, the Thompsons have slipped to sixth. Prior to the 2004-05 season, the highest national ranking for an Irish doubles team was #5, by current assistant coach Michelle Dasso and Becky Varnum on two occasions during the 2000-01 campaign.
THOMPSONS ONLY DOUBLES TEAM TO REACH SEMIS OF FIRST TWO GRAND SLAMS: Sophomore twins Catrina Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) and Christian Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) were the only Division I team to reach the semifinals of both of the first two legs of the collegiate grand slam. The Irish team, now ranked sixth after being seventh in the preseason, was the runner-up in October’s Riviera/ITA All-American Championships, defeating #6 Bentley/Stephenson of Alabama, #1 Hollands/Mlakar of Arizona, and #11 Gersic/Kovacek of New Mexico before falling to Whitney Benik and Lolita Frangulyan of Florida in the title match. The sisters then beat #3 Foster/Kalsarieva of Kentucky and #28 Banada/Bradley of Miami before losing to 13th-ranked Alice Barnes and Erin Burdette of Stanford in the semifinals of the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships. Benik and Fangulyan were upset in the opening round dof the National Indoors by eventual champs Cristelle Grier and Audra Cohen of Northwestern. The Wildcat team did not play doubles in the All-American Championships. The Thompsons became the first Irish team ever to reach a grand-slam final, as well as the first Notre Dame players to advance to the doubles semis of multiple grand slams.
THOMPSONS UPSET #1, #3, AND #6 IN FALL SEASON: Sophomore twins Catrina Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) and Christian Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.), now ranked #6 after being seventh in the preseason, put together a fall filled with giant killing, as they were 6-1 against nationally-ranked teams, including four wins against top-15 squads. The sisters upset #1 Dianne Hollands/Maja Mlakar of Arizona, #6 Ashley Bentley/Robin Stephenson, and #11 Eva Gersic/Maja Kovacek of New Mexico en route to the title match of the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships before upsetting #3 Sarah Foster/Aibika Kalsarieva of Kentucky in the round of 16 of the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships. The upset of Hollands and Mlakar, which came in an 8-6 decision on Oct. 8 in the quarterfinals of the first grand slam, was the first for an Irish team against the nation’s #1 doubles team since current assistant coach Michelle Dasso and Becky Varnum downed Pepperdine’s Ipek Senoglu and Paola Palencia 8-5 at No. 1 doubles on Feb. 17, 2001, in the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championships.
WE ARE FAMILY: Notre Dame women’s tennis has long featured members of the same family on its teams. For the third consecutive season, Notre Dame has an unprecedented two pairs of sisters on its roster in 2003-04. In 2002-03, Liz Donohue (Sioux Falls, S.D./O’Gorman H.S.) and Lauren Connelly (Oklahoma City, Okla./Bishop McGuinness H.S.) joined the Notre Dame squad as freshmen, combining with sisters Maggie Donohue (`03) and Sarah Jane Connelly (Oklahoma City, Okla./Bishop McGuinness H.S.) to mark the first time in school history that a team featured two sets of sisters at the same time. Though Maggie Donohue graduated in ’03, the Connellys were joined last season by freshman twins Catrina Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) and Christian Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) — the fourth pair of twin sisters ever to earn monograms in the same sport at Notre Dame — to give Notre Dame two sets of sisters once again. A total of seven sets of sisters have earned monograms in women’s tennis, by far the most of any of the 13 Irish women’s sports. Another family connection was added this season, as head coach Jay Louderback’s daughter, Bailey Louderback (South Bend, Ind./Penn H.S.), joined the team as a freshman. He became the 11th Notre Dame coach — just the second in a women’s sport (along with softball’s Brian Boulac) — to have coached his son or daughter with the Irish.
KEEPING UP WITH NOTRE DAME TENNIS: For the fastest results of Notre Dame tennis matches, call the Notre Dame sports hotline at (574) 631-3000 and choose #8. The hotline provides schedule and results information for varsity sports and serves as a supplement to the game recaps and weekly releases provided on the official athletic website at www.und.com. The hotline is the first medium updated with the results of each Notre Dame tennis match. In addition, media members and fans may be added to the sports information e-mail release list by contacting Bo Rottenborn at Rottenborn.2@nd.edu, who also can provide any information about the Irish tennis program.