For the third consecutive season and tenth time since joining the conference, the Notre Dame women’s tennis team captured the Big East Championship. Last Sunday, the top-seeded Irish defeated third-seeded and 22nd-ranked DePaul 4-0 to claim the title at the Eck Tennis Pavilion. The victory sends Notre Dame to next month’s NCAA Tournament for the 15th consecutive time. This will complete a stellar regular season in which the Irish finish 22-3.
Notre Dame hosted the four-day event for the first time in the program’s history, something for which Coach Louderback had long been hoping. “We’re excited, and we’ve been trying to get it for years,” Louderback said in an interview with UND.com’s Jack Nolan before the tournament. “We really wanted to get it here, and we have it for two years, so we’re excited to have it.” The Irish women certainly capitalized on their home court advantage, overcoming inclement weather to capture the conference crown without dropping a single match: the Lady Irish defeated West Virginia 4-0 in the quarterfinals and posted a 5-0 victory over Syracuse in the semifinals before topping the Blue Demons.
The Women’s Irish Team rode great singles and doubles play to their third consecutive conference title. For the 22nd time this season, they captured the match’s initial point behind the brilliance of Kristy Frilling and Kali Krisic in the number one doubles position and Chrissie McGaffigan and Kristen Rafael in the number three doubles position. “We pulled through doubles today,” Head Coach Jay Louderback said. “DePaul played great doubles today, but we were able to come out on top.” The duo of Frilling and Krisic completed a perfect regular season at the top doubles spot for the Irish.
At singles, the Irish won victories with Frilling, Cosmina Ciobanu, and Krisic to finish off the 4-0 victory. “We played great singles,” Louderback said. “It took a lot of pressure off us after we won the first set in each match. I was really proud of the poise we had in singles today.” Krisic, who was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, finished the weekend 3-0 in both singles and doubles, a major factor in Notre Dame’s dominance. She posted her second match-clinching win of the tournament by taking out DePaul’s Gia McKnight at number five singles, her seventh consecutive victory.
Notre Dame lost just three times this season on their way to becoming the fifth-ranked team in the nation at season’s end. On February 21, the Irish made history as they defeated No.1 Northwestern, 5-2, at the Eck Tennis Pavilion, marking the first time in the program’s history that Notre Dame defeated the nation’s top-ranked team. Frilling, Shannon Mathews, McGaffigan and Ciobanu all recorded singles victories, and the Irish swept the doubles point en route to the historic upset. Notre Dame was perfect against Big East foes this season, defeating DePaul twice to supplement wins over South Florida and Marquette. The only teams to defeat the Irish women were North Carolina, Duke and Baylor.
The 2009-2010 season marks another great campaign for Louderback. The veteran coach has taken the program to new heights in his 21 seasons, collecting a 407-168 (.708) record, and he ranks third among active women’s tennis coaches with 611 career victories. This is the 17th consecutive season that the Irish have finished in the top 30 of the rankings, a testament to Louderback’s steady hand and efficient system. He has been honored as Big East Coach of the Year seven times in the fourteen years since Notre Dame joined the conference.
With Sunday’s championship win over DePaul, the Irish will be in the running to host the NCAA Tournament’s first and second rounds for a second consecutive season. The tournament begins May 14, with locations and pairings announced in early May. In any case, the Irish will come into the tournament well-rested and ready to go. Should they be chosen to host the early rounds, it will only increase the confidence of a team already riding a wave of momentum into the NCAA Tournament. The rest of the country had better take notice: the Irish are on a roll.
Andy Edwards is a senior Psychology and Spanish major. Contact him with questions, advice, or job offers at aedward4@nd.edu.
