March 12, 2008

Box Score

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The No. 61-ranked Illinois women's tennis team had a lot of fight in them the entire match, but the No. 23-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish used home-court advantage and the momentum from the sweep of doubles to score a 6-1 victory over Illinois today at the Eck Tennis Pavilion. Freshman Marisa Lambropoulos stood out as a bright spot for Illinois in the loss, as she helped the Illini not leave Indiana empty-handed by registering a come-from-behind win on court four in singles.

"I thought we competed really hard and made some improvements in the areas we had been working on this week in practice," head coach Michelle Dasso said. "We are not happy with the result by any means, but we faced a top-25 team and were right there with them. I give credit to Notre Dame who fought and played really hard today."

With the loss, Illinois dropped to 5-5 on the year, while Notre Dame improved to 9-7 in 2008.

In the mid-afternoon match, Notre Dame was the first to the scoreboard as it swept the doubles point, starting out with an opening win on court three. The Fighting Irish then followed with the clinching point on court two as Kali Krisik and Kristen Rafael (ND) took an 8-4 win over Shivani Davé and Marisa Lambropoulos (ILL) to give ND a 1-0 lead.

In singles, Notre Dame kept the pressure on as it took decisions on courts six and three. A point from the win, The Fighting Irish landed the clinching victory as redshirt freshman Leigh Finnegan (ILL) dropped her match at No. 1 singles to No. 39-ranked Kelcy Tefft (ND), 6-2, 6-1.

Lambropoulos then helped Illinois remain competitive and fend off the sweep, as she strung together a solid match on court four, taking down Notre Dame's Colleen Rielley, 1-6, 6-4, 1-0 (7) in the match tiebreak.

"Marisa played as well as I have seen her play in awhile," Dasso added about the freshman's efforts. "She came out and took care of business in the match tiebreak, so definitely a positive to take away from today. Now, as a team, we have another tough test against North Carolina this weekend to prepare for when we return to practice."

The Illini next hit the airways to travel to Puerto Rico for the Spring Break holiday, taking on North Carolina on March 16 and Princeton on March 21. The matches against UNC and Princeton are set for 9 a.m. starts at the Villas at Palmas-Humacao in Puerto Rico. The Illini do not return home again until they to host Wisconsin on March 29 at the Atkins Tennis Center.

NOTRE DAME UNIVERSITY 6, UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 1
3/12/2008 AT NOTRE DAME, IND. (ECK TENNIS PAVILION)

Singles competition
1. #39 Kelcy Tefft (ND) def. Leigh Finnegan (ILL) - 6-2, 6-1
2. Brook Buck (ND) def. Megan Fudge (ILL) - 7-6 (7-1), 6-3
3. Cosmina Ciobanu (ND) d. Shivani Dave' (ILL) - 6-1, 6-2
4. Marisa Lambropoulos (ILL) def. Colleen Rielley (ND) - 1-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-7)
5. #113 Kali Krisik (ND) def. Momei Qu (ILL) - 7-5, 6-4
6. Katie Potts (ND) def. Kristina Minor (ILL) - 6-4, 6-0

Doubles competition
1. #1 Brook Buck/ Kelcy Tefft (ND) d. Leigh Finnegan / Megan Fudge (ILL) - 8-6
2. Kali Krisik / Kristen Rafael (ND) d. Shivani Davé / Marisa Lambropoulos (ILL) - 8-4
3. Cosmina Ciobanu / Colleen Rielley (ND) d. Annie McCarthy / Alejandra Meza Cuadra (ILL) - 8-5

Match Notes
University of Illinois 5-5, 1-0 Big Ten; National Ranking - 61
Notre Dame University 9-7, National Ranking - 23
Order of finish: Doubles (3, 2, 1); Singles (6, 3, 1, 5, 4, 2)