Texas A&M
Notre Dame
Women's Tennis Falls to #19 Notre Dame, 6-1
Apr 02, 2011 | Women's Tennis
April 2, 2011
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The Texas A&M women's tennis team (9-5) suffered a 6-1 loss at No. 19 Notre Dame today at the Eck Tennis Pavilion indoor courts.
"We competed well in the doubles, but in singles we didn't compete as well as a team," A&M coach Bobby Kleinecke said. "Our goal was to play our tempo. We did a great job of playing our tempo, but unfortunately it didn't translate into wins."
All three doubles matches were tightly contested with the scores nearly knotted at the halfway point. The Irish, however, pulled away late on two courts to take a 1-0 lead.
"We had our opportunities in doubles, and the matches were well contested," Kleinecke said. "We were even with them and the matches could have gone either way at any point. Unfortunately they were the ones who ended up winning the point."
Janelle Cuthbertson (Perth, Australia) and Christi Liles (Largo, Fla.) were within 5-4 of 22nd-ranked Kristy Frilling and Shannon Mathews at No. 1 doubles before the Fighting Irish won three of the next four games to pull away for the win.
Chrissie McGaffigan and Kristen Rafael of Notre Dame also made a late rally at the No. 2 line to clinch the point. A&M's Morgan Frank (Oldsmar, Fla.) and Nazari Urbina (Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico) held leads at 5-4 and 6-5 before the Irish duo used a three-game run to close out the 8-6 win.
A&M's Stephanie Davidson (Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas) and Sheri Olivier (Topeka, Kan.) trailed Jennifer Kellner and Julie Sabacinski, 7-4, at the No. 3 line. This time it was the Aggies who would rally, winning four consecutive games to take an 8-7 lead. The Irish won the next game to tie the score at 8-8 and force a tiebreaker. A&M won the tiebreaker, 7-3, to get the win and prevent the sweep.
It marked the pairs' fifth consecutive win. In addition, it was Davidson's 12th victory in her last 13 matches and it gave her 92 career wins, moving her into a tie with former Aggie standout Nancy Dingwall (1994-97) for sixth place in the A&M all-time records.
"No. 3 doubles had a great comeback and it should have given us momentum, but it didn't translate into anything in singles," Kleinecke said.
Notre Dame took a 2-0 lead when Cuthbertson retired in the second set against McGaffigan at the No. 5 line. McGaffigan had won the first set, 6-2, and led 3-0 when Cuthbertson retired.
Frilling, ranked No. 3 in singles, put the Irish up, 3-0, with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over 34th-ranked Urbina at the No. 1 line.
"Nazari has lost a few matches lately and is lacking some confidence, but she has been playing great players at the top of the lineup," Kleinecke said. "She just has to trust and believe in herself. I'm not worried about her; she will be there for us."
Kellner, ranked No. 105, clinched the win for Notre Dame (11-8) with a 6-3, 6-3 win against Liles at No. 3, and Rafael put the Irish up, 6-0, with a 6-0, 6-3 win against Davidson on No. 4.
The bright spot of the match was Lauren Santacroce, who prevented a shutout by defeating Sabacinski, 7-6 (4), 6-2, at the No. 6 line.
"A big plus was Lauren," Kleinecke said about the junior from Spring, Texas. "She played one of her best matches this year and really stepped up for us and made something happen that wasn't there two weeks ago. We just need others to also step up, especially with Christi Potgieter (Petrusville, South Africa) still out of the lineup with her thumb injury.
"We are not sitting and waiting for Potgieter to come back, but it is an uphill battle without her, and we need people to step up. I am confident that they will step up and we will bounce back against DePaul tomorrow."
The Aggies will face the Blue Demons for the first time in program history, Sunday at 8 a.m. Central (9 a.m. EDT) at the Eck Tennis Pavilion. DePaul is 10-7 entering a home match against Long Beach State on Saturday. All seven of DePaul's losses have come against ranked opponents, including five against opponents that have been ranked in the top 31 at the time of competition.
The match against DePaul concludes a four-match road swing for the Aggies, who return to the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center and Big 12 play Friday, April 8 against 22nd-ranked Oklahoma at 6 p.m.
Live scoring of the match will be available at AggieAthletics.com.
No. 19 Notre Dame 6, No. 32 Texas A&M 1 Singles
Eck Tennis Pavilion (Indoor)
Notre Dame, Ind.
1. (#3) Kristy Frilling (ND) def. (#34) Nazari Urbina (TAMU), 6-1, 6-2
2. (#63) Shannon Mathews (ND) def. Morgan Frank (TAMU), 7-6 (5), 6-1
3. (#105) Jennifer Kellner (ND) def. Christi Liles (TAMU), 6-3, 6-3
4. Kristen Rafael (ND) def. Stephanie Davidson (TAMU), 6-0, 6-3
5. Chrissie McGaffigan (ND) def. Janelle Cuthbertson (TAMU), 6-2, 3-0 retired
6. Lauren Santacroce (TAMU) def. Julie Sabacinski (ND), 7-6 (4), 6-2
Doubles (Notre Dame wins the point)
1. (#22) Frilling/Mathews (ND) def. Cuthbertson/Liles (TAMU), 8-5
2. McGaffigan/Rafael (ND) def. Frank/Urbina (TAMU), 8-6
3. Davidson/Sheri Olivier (TAMU) def. Kellner/Sabacinski (ND), 9-8 (3)
Order of finish:
Doubles: 1, 2, 3
Singles: 5, 1, 3*, 4, 2, 6
*-clinched match
Team records:
Texas A&M: 9-5
Notre Dame: 11-8
Follow A&M on Twitter @AggieTennis.
Players Mentioned
