Fresh off victories over two top-25 opponents last week, No. 3 Notre Dame stretched its winning streak to 11 matches and improved its overall record to 16-1 with a dominating 7-0 win over the Wisconsin Badgers on Thursday.
"We played really well," Irish coach Jay Louderback said. "It's a combination of the fact that their confidence is down since they haven't been playing well, and our confidence is up since we have been playing well."
Both teams were dealing with injuries as Notre Dame was without junior Brook Buck and freshman Colleen Rielley, who were unable to play with undisclosed injuries. The Badgers' best player, No. 18 Caitlin Burke, was just returning from an injury that had kept her sidelined for two months, forcing her to play only in the No. 2 doubles match.
With neither team at full strength, the Irish stepped up their level of play.
"It gave some of our other kids who haven't played much singles a chance to play, and we played well," Louderback said. "We only lost three games in the singles and ... I just kept waiting to see us miss some balls and no one was missing any."
Freshmen Cosmina Ciobanu and Kali Krisik controlled the No. 3 doubles match with an 8-1 triumph over Wisconsin's Chelsea Nussock and Kim Roberts. No. 4 ranked doubles team Christian and Catrina Thompson shut out the Badgers' tandem of Kaylan Caiati and Elizabeth Carpenter 8-0 to clinch the doubles point.
After gaining the doubles point, the Irish singles easily won all six singles points. Kali Krisik, playing in her first singles dual action, got the first singles point in straight sets beating Wisconsin freshman Kim Roberts 6-1, 6-0.
Sophomore Katie Potts continued Notre Dame's rout in her first singles since Feb. 14 by defeating junior Morgan Tuttle 6-1, 6-1.
Sophomore Kelcy Tefft clinched the match with a 6-0, 6-0 shutout of junior Chelsea Nusslock.
No. 62 Ciobanu and No. 19 Catrina Thompson emerged victorious with 6-0, 6-0 triumphs while Christian Thompson won for the first time in her last four matches, defeating Elizabeth Carpenter 6-0, 6-1.
Louderback was pleased with Christian Thompson's ability to put her previous defeats behind her to emerge victorious against one of Wisconsin's top players.
"She played with a little more confidence and very positively and she wasn't worried about losing a few points," Louderback said.
Next up for the Irish is No. 21 Wichita State on March 30.
