Feb. 24, 2001

LAWRENCE, Kan. — The sixth-ranked Notre Dame women’s tennis team won the doubles point and cruised through the six singles match to beat 44th-ranked BYU 7-0 on Saturday in a match played at the University of Kansas. Junior Becky Varnum improved to 7-1 in her last matches with a 6-0, 6-4 win over Dominique Reynolds at No. 2 singles to clinch the match for the Irish, who improve to 9-2 with the victory. Notre Dame, 4-3 winners at Kansas State on Friday, conclude their Kansas trip with a Sunday versus Kansas. A win over the Jayhawks would give the Irish their best start since the 1995-96 team at 10-2.

Senior All-American Michelle Dasso was a winner both in singles and doubles to break the Irish career record for combined singles and doubles wins. She has won a total of 214 matches at Notre Dame, surpassing the 213 won by Kelly Zalinski from 1997-2000. Dasso has an overall singles record of 124-32 and a 90-40 mark in doubles.

The Irish used wins at Nos. 3 and 1 doubles to take a 1-0 lead heading into singles. Freshman Caylan Leslie and junior Nina Vaughan beat Lindsay Ferrell and Elyse Jensen 8-2 at No. 3 doubles, while the fifth-ranked team of Dasso and Varnum defeated Jodi Richardson and Lu Oswald 8-6 at No. 1 doubles. BYU’s 42nd-ranked team of Liza Khordoiarova and Reynolds beat sophomore Katie Cunha and senior Kimberly Guy 8-4 at No. 2 doubles.

Notre Dame did not drop a set in sweeping the six singles matches. Second-ranked Dasso beat 42nd-ranked Richardson 6-3, 6-1 at No. 1 singles, while Vaughan was a 6-0, 6-2 winner over Oswald at No. 3 singles. Leslie downed Ferrell 6-1, 6-4 at No. 4, while Guy won 6-2, 6-2 over Khordoiarova at No. 5 singles. Cunha defeated Jensen 6-4, 6-0 at No. 6 singles.

#6 NOTRE DAME 7, #44 BYU 0

Singles

No. 1: #2 Michelle Dasso (ND) def. #42 Jodi Richardson (BYU) 6-3, 6-1

No. 2: Becky Varnum (ND) def. Dominique Reynolds (BYU) 6-0, 6-4

No. 3: Nina Vaughan (ND) def. Lu Oswald (BYU) 6-0, 6-2

No. 4: Caylan Leslie (ND) def. Lindsay Ferrell (BYU) 6-1, 6-4

No. 5: Kimberly Guy (ND) def. Liza Khordoiarova (BYU) 6-2, 6-2

No. 6: Katie Cunha (ND) def. Elyse Jensen (BYU) 6-4, 6-0

Doubles

No. 1: #5 Dasso/Varnum (ND) def. Richardson/Oswald (BYU) 8-6

No. 2: #42 Khordoiarova/Reynolds (BYU) def. Cunha/Guy (ND) 8-4

No. 3: Leslie/Vaughan (ND) def. Ferrell/Jensen (BYU) 8-2