Michigan Ends Season With NCAA Loss at Notre Dame

Sunday, May 13

South Bend, Ind.

Noon

Michigan

Notre Dame

5/13/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The No. 23-ranked University of Michigan women's tennis team saw its season come to an end at the hands of Notre Dame for the second straight season, as the host and No. 7-ranked Fighting Irish dealt the Wolverines a 4-0 defeat in the second round of the NCAA Championship Sunday afternoon (May 14) at the Courtney Tennis Center. U-M, which fell to UND by an identical margin in last year's NCAA second round played in South Bend, finishes the year at 17-8.

Cosmina Ciobanu and Kali Krisik got Notre Dame (27-3) off to a fast start by claiming an 8-1 victory over junior Allie Shafner (Englewood, Colo./Cherry Creek HS) and sophomore Lindsey Howard (Richmond, Va./Mills E. Godwin HS) at No. 3 doubles. The No. 22-ranked duo of Brook Buck and Kelcy Tefft clinched the first team point for the Irish with an 8-4 triumph over senior Kara Delicata (LaSalle, Ontario/Sandwich Secondary School) and freshman Tania Mahtani (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif./Palos Verdes Peninsula HS) at No. 2.

Tefft handed Mahtani just her sixth loss in 25 dual matches, earning a 6-2, 6-2 decision at No. 4 singles to push the Notre Dame lead to 2-0. Buck spoiled freshman Tanvi Dudhela's (San Jose, Calif./Archbishop Mitty HS) NCAA debut by claiming a 6-0, 6-2 win at No. 6 that put the Irish up 3-0.

Delicata was unable to complete a comeback effort in her final collegiate match, falling to Colleen Rielley by a score of 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 at No. 3 to give Notre Dame the fourth and decisive team point.

The Wolverines also dropped a 5-2 decision to the Irish back on Feb. 23 in South Bend.

Following are match-by-match results:

Singles
No. 1 -- #86 Jenny Kuehn (U-M) vs. #30 Catrina Thompson, 5-7, 3-5 (abandoned)
No. 2 -- #91 Chisako Sugiyama (U-M) vs. #124 Christian Thompson, 4-6, 5-3 (abandoned)
No. 3 -- Colleen Rielley (UND) d. Kara Delicata, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1
No. 4 -- Kelcy Tefft (UND) d. Tania Mahtani, 6-2, 6-2
No. 5 -- Elizabeth Exon (U-M) vs. #69 Cosmina Ciobanu, 2-6, 3-4 (abandoned)
No. 6 -- Brook Buck (UND) d. Tanvi Dudhela, 6-0, 6-2

Doubles
No. 1 -- Kuehn/Sugiyama (U-M) vs. #12 Thompson/Thompson, 5-7 (abandoned)
No. 2 -- #22 Buck/Tefft (UND) d. Delicata/Mahtani, 8-4
No. 3 -- Ciobanu/Kali Krisik (UND) d. Lindsey Howard/Allie Shafner, 8-1

Order of Completion: Doubles 3-2, Singles 4-6-3

Contact: Marc Ressler (734) 763-4423