ND Womens Tennis: Irish clawed to pieces by Wildcats
By: JOE LINDSLEY
Sports Writer
Notre Dame expected a battle heading into Thursday's match at Northwestern.
Turned out it was more of a massacre than a battle.
The No. 21 Irish failed to win a single set against the No. 16 Wildcats, and Northwestern won 7-0.
The young Irish team faced a Wildcats squad that featured four players ranked in the top 80 nationally. Notre Dame's highest ranked player is No. 124 Alicia Salas. The junior lost 6-1, 6-2 to No. 16 Cristelle Grier, a freshman.
Northwestern improved to 3-2, while the Irish posted their first loss after beginning the season with two victories.
The match began with Northwestern's dominance in the doubles portion of the day's play. Ruth Barnes and Andrea Yung won the first match with their 8-4 victory over the Irish duo of freshman Lauren Connelly and Salas. Then Grier and counterpart Jessica Rush clinched the doubles point as they triumphed over Irish senior Katie Cunha and freshman Kristina Stastny, 8-6.
The dominance continued with each of the Wildcats, playing without No. 18 Marine Piriou, achieving singles victories in straight sets.
Junior Caylan Leslie lost to No. 63 Rush, 6-3, 6-4. No. 76 Jamie Peisel clinched the victory for the Wildcats with her 6-2, 6-3 win over Lauren Connelly.
Lauren Connelly's older sister, Sarah Jane, a sophomore, could not prevail against Barnes, who won 6-4, 6-1. Stastny and Jennifer Smith, playing at the No. 3 and 6 flights respectively also could not achieve victory. Yung dominated Stastny, 6-1, 6-2 and Smith fell to Stacy Kokx, 6-4, 6-4.
Salas's defeat was only the fourth loss of her career in dual-match singles play. Salas has achieved 29 dual-match singles wins throughout her Irish career.
More stiff competition, and hopefully a battle, is looming for Notre Dame. Saturday, No. 5 North Carolina will visit the Eck Tennis Pavilion.
All Sports Stories for Friday, January 31, 2003
