March 31, 2009

Box Score

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The fourth-ranked Baylor women's tennis team earned the doubles point and won three singles matches in straight sets as the Lady Bears defeated third-ranked Notre Dame, 5-2, on Tuesday afternoon.

The win avenges an earlier loss to Notre Dame as the Fighting Irish handed Baylor its first loss of the season, 4-3, at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.

"Notre Dame is a team that we have tremendous respect for, especially after losing to them earlier in the year," said head coach Joey Scrivano. "We knew that we would have to play extremely well to win. My assistants did a great job of making adjustments in some of the key matches today."

Cosmina Ciobanu and Kali Krisik defeated No. 59 Taylor Ormond and Jelena Stanivuk, 8-3, on court two to open doubles play. No. 16 Lenka Broosova and Csilla Borsanyi upset third-ranked Kelcy Tefft and Kristy Frilling, 8-6, on court one to even the match. On court three, Nina Secerbegovic and Kasia Siwosz downed Shannon Mathews and Colleen Rielley, 8-6, to claim the doubles point.

"I'm excited to see the way our three doubles teams are coming along," said Scrivano. "They are gelling and becoming more fundamentally sound each week."

In singles action, Secerbegovic was the first off, claiming a 6-1, 6-0 win over Kristen Rafael on court five. The freshman has now won 12 straight matches and has only dropped three total games in her last three matches.

No. 35 Tefft downed No. 44 Ormond, 6-1, 6-1, on court one to put Notre Dame on the board before No. 37 Stanivuk defeated Ciobanu, 6-3, 6-3, on court three. No. 74 Borsanyi rolled over Mathews, 6-1, 6-4, on court five to secure the win for Baylor.

No. 43 Broosova defeated No. 36 Frilling in three sets, 6-0, 3-6, 6-4, before Siwosz lost a third-set super tiebreaker, 6-1, 5-7, 10-6, to Krisik.

Baylor returns to action this weekend as the Lady Bears host a pair of Big 12 matches. Baylor will take on Kansas on Friday at 6 p.m. before facing Kansas State on Sunday at noon.