Nov. 3, 2005
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Notre Dame junior twins Catrina Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) and Christian Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) – seeking to become the first team from any school ever to win the doubles titles in both of the season’s first two grand slams – prevailed in a tight opening-round match against the team ranked ninth in the nation Thursday in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships in the Racquet Club of Columbus. The Irish sisters, the top seed in the tournament, have a stiff challenge on the horizon, as they will next face a team featuring two players who reached the title match of last year’s NCAA Doubles Championship.
The Thompsons, ranked #2 in the preseason national rankings, prevailed 8-6 over the team of Kim Coventry and Joelle Schwenk from Kentucky in the opening round of the 16-team draw of the season’s second grand slam. Catrina Thompson, ranked 27th, also fell just short in an upset bid in singles action on Thursday, losing 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 to fourth-ranked and fifth-seeded Robin Stephenson of Alabama.
The Thompsons improved to 6-0 this season, with four of the matches coming against top-10 opponents. They are 12-4 in their careers in grand slam events.
The Irish sisters will next take on the Stanford team of Alice Barnes and Anne Yelsey, ranked sixth nationally. Barnes was one-half of the team that won the NCAA doubles title last spring, while Yelsey was on the squad that lost in the all-Cardinal final. It will be a rematch of the quarterfinals in the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships, when the Thompsons prevailed 9-7 en route to winning the tournament championship. Last year in the National Indoors, Barnes and Erin Burdette eliminated the Thompsons by a 9-7 score in the semifinals. Barnes and Yelsey also had a tough first-round match, defeating Cristelle Grier and Alexis Prousis of Northwestern 8-6. Grier was seeking her third consecutive doubles title in this championship.
With her close loss on Thursday, Catrina Thompson moved into the consolation bracket in singles. She will take on 65th-ranked Stephanie Kusano from California on Friday afternoon.
ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships (November 3)Singles Main Draw - first round[5] #4 Robin Stephenson (Alabama) def. #27 Catrina Thompson (ND) 6-1, 3-6, 6-4Doubles Main Draw - first round[1] #2 Catrina Thompson/Christian Thompson (ND) def. #9 Kim Coventry/Joelle Schwenk 8-6
Note: Numbers in brackets are tournament seedings. Numbers preceding names are ITA national rankings.