Feb. 14, 2001
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The 11th-ranked Notre Dame women’s tennis team travels to Madison, Wis., this week for the 2001 United States Tennis Association/Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Women’s Team Indoor Championships. The Irish, seeded No. 5-8 in the 16-team draw, will meet 40th-ranked Oklahoma State in the first round at 9:00 a.m. on Thurs., Feb. 15. Notre Dame enters the tournament after wins over 61st-ranked Virginia Tech, eighth-ranked Wake Forest and 28th-ranked North Carolina last weekend at the Eck Tennis Pavilion.
UP NEXT FOR THE IRISH: Notre Dame and Oklahoma State will meet for the first time on Thursday in the first round of the 2001 USTA/ITA National Women’s Team Indoor Championships. The winner will meet the winner of second-ranked Georgia and host Wisconsin at 3:30 p.m. on Friday. Oklahoma State is led by Ashleigh Dolman and Maria Phillips, who are ranked 45th in doubles.
IRISH AT USTA/ITA NATIONAL TEAM INDOOR: Notre Dame will be making its eighth consecutive appearance and eighth overall in the USTA/ITA National Women’s Team Indoor Championships since its first showing in 1994. The Irish are 9-12 all-time at the event. Notre Dame has wins over Alabama, Arizona, BYU, California, UC Santa Barbara, South Alabama, South Carolina, USC and William & Mary and losses to UCLA, Stanford (3), Georgia, Florida (2), Mississippi, Pepperdine, USC and Vanderbilt (2). Notre Dame’s meeting with Oklahoma State marks the 17th different opponent the Irish will have played at the USTA/ITA National Women’s Team Indoor Championships.
DASSO READY TO BREAK SCHOOL RECORD: With two singles wins this weekend, senior All-American Michelle Dasso will become the winningest singles player in Notre Dame history. Dasso enters the week with a 121-31 career singles record — just one away from tying the record of 122 wins set just last year by Kelly Zalinski (1996-2000). She also needs just six more combined singles and doubles victories to match the record of 213 total wins also held by Zalinski. Dasso enters the Oklahoma State match with an 86-39 career doubles record to go along with her singles record. Zalinski compiled 122 singles wins and 91 doubles victories in her Irish career. Last season Dasso became the only Irish junior and one of only four players to win 100 singles matches under 12th-year head coach Jay Louderback — joining Zalinski, Jennifer Hall and Marisa Velasco.
WEEK IN REVIEW: Notre Dame began the first of three dual matches in three day gainst 61st-ranked Virginia Tech and, the Irish won the doubles point and then swept the singles matches for a 7-0 win on Friday. Senior All-American Michelle Dasso led the way with wins at No. 1 singles and doubles to pace the Irish.
Notre Dame blanked eighth-ranked Wake Forest 5-0 on Saturday. Senior Kimberly Guy won the decisive doubles match and then clinched the win with a straight-set victory at No. 5 singles. The Irish took advantage of a weakened Demon Deacon squad that fielded a team of five players — handing Notre Dame forfeit wins at No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles to start the match. The win over eighth-ranked Wake Forest marks the highest-ranked opponent the Irish have beaten since a 5-4 win at fifth-ranked Texas in 1996. Dasso won the final nine games of the match at No. 1 singles with a 6-1, 6-0 win over sixth-ranked Janet Bergman.
The Irish swept the singles after losing the doubles point to beat 28th-ranked North Carolina 6-1 on Sunday. Dasso lost just one game combined in both her singles and doubles matches to lead the Irish. Dasso and junior Becky Varnum rolled to an 8-0 win over North Carolina’s 25th-ranked team of Kendrick Bunn and Kate Pinchbeck at No. 1 doubles. Dasso once again stormed through her match, building a 6-0, 5-0 lead before defeating 11th-ranked Marlene Mejia 6-0, 6-1 at No. 1 singles.
ITA RANKINGS: The Irish stand 11th among the 75 teams ranked by the ITA for the second consecutive week after finishing 2000 ranked 13th. Senior All-American Michelle Dasso is ranked second in singles and fifth in doubles with sophomore Becky Varnum. Dasso’s No. 2 singles ranking marks the highest ever for a Notre Dame women’s tennis player.
DASSO IN DUAL MATCHES: Senior All-American Michelle Dasso enters the week as one of the top singles players in dual matches during the Jay Louderback era at Notre Dame. She has compiled a record of 76-12 (.864) during her three-plus seasons at mostly No. 1 singles. She has a 5-0 mark this season at No. 1 singles — including a 6-3, 6-0 win over Duke’s Ansley Cargill.
IRISH FACE TOUGH SLATE: Notre Dame has played a pair of top-10 opponents already this season, losing 4-3 to fourth-ranked Duke and beating eighth-ranked Wake Forest 5-0. Six of the other 15 teams at the USTA/ITA National Women’s Team Indoor Championships can be found on the 2001 Irish schedule. Notre Dame is scheduled to meet at least 14 more ranked teams following this weekend’s event. Notre Dame will look for fourth BIG EAST championship April 20-22, at Miami.
DASSO HAVING “GRAND” SEASON: Senior All-American Michelle Dasso has played in all three ITA collegiate grand slam events this season and has reached at least the quarterfinals each time. In the first grand slam of the season at the T. Rowe Price National Intercollegiate Clay Court Championships in September, Dasso became the first Irish women’s tennis player to reach a grand slam final. She won four three-set matches to gain a berth in the title match before falling to Wake Forest’s Bea Bielik.
Dasso upset Washington’s third-seeded Kristina Kraszewski in the first round of the Riviera All-American Championships in October before falling in the quarterfinals. She recently won three matches to earn a spot in the semifinals of the Rolex National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships before losing to eventual champion Laura Granville from Stanford. Dasso and Varnum also reached the doubles semifinals.
GUY OFF TO FAST START: Senior Kimberly Guy has earned the No. 5 singles spot in the Irish lineup this season thanks in large part to her 18-3 singles record. She compiled a 9-3 mark during the fall season and has a 9-0 record in the spring. Guy won the second singles flight at the adidas Invitational in January by winning four straight-set matches. She has dual-match singles wins at Nos. 2, 3, 5 and 6 singles for a 5-0 record..
HEAD COACH JAY LOUDERBACK: Jay Louderback is in his 12th year as head coach of the Irish, compiling a 205-97 (.679) record at Notre Dame and a career mark of 409-275 (.598) in 20-plus seasons of coaching. His 2000 and 1999 teams both won 23 dual matches, matching his ’95 Irish for Notre Dame’s most wins at the NCAA Division I level. He has guided the Irish to NCAA championship appearances in seven of the last eight years, including a national quarterfinal appearance in 1996 and a round of 16 showing in 2000. His teams have finished among the top 20 teams in the country in six of the last eight years and in the top 30 in all but two of his years at Notre Dame. The Arkansas City, Kan., native, and 1976 graduate of Wichita State has been named the ITA regional coach of the year three times (1995, 1996, 2000) and has been named BIG EAST coach of the year in four of the last five seasons. His Notre Dame players have won 10 All-America honors in his 11 years.
IRISH SWEEP ITA MIDWEST TITLES: Michelle Dasso and Becky Varnum successfully defended their ITA Midwest doubles title in November by sweeping through five rounds. In a battle between top-10 teams, seventh-ranked Dasso and Varnum beat Ohio State’s eighth-ranked Kristy Dascoli and Monica Rincon 8-3 in the final. They won the 1999 title in similar fashion as a first-time doubles pair with a win over Dascoli led team in the final.
In addition to picking up her second doubles crown, Dasso took home her second regional singles title with six straight-set wins. She beat Dascoli 6-2, 7-6 in final to win her first Midwest singles crown since she won six matches in four days as a freshman.