Notre Dame reached the 20-win mark against Illinois on Tuesday. The 6-1 victory in Champagne was never in doubt.
To open the match, the Irish swept the doubles point. The team's doubles domination has been encouraging all season long and yesterday's match was no different. Junior Colleen Rielley and freshman Shannon Mathews earned the first victory 8-3. The No. 3 pairing of senior Kelcy Tefft and freshman Kristy Frilling clinched the doubles point with a 9-7 victory of their own. To take the sweep, juniors Kali Krisik and Cosmina Ciobanu won 8-5.
Getting the Irish their second point, No. 36 Frilling rolled to a 6-0, 6-1 victory, and Ciobanu followed suit with a 6-1, 6-2 victory to give Notre Dame a 3-0 lead.
Before long, both Shannon Mathews and senior Katie Potts had given Notre Dame a 5-0 lead, clinching the victory and the team's 20th win against only four losses. Potts won the closest match of the day, winning 2-6, 6-4, 1-0.
Giving the Irish a sniff of a sweep victory, Krisik won in three sets, but No. 35 Tefft was upset 2-6, 6-4, 1-0 at No. 1 singles.
As Notre Dame's season nears its end, lopsided victories like this one bring promise and momentum for the postseason. The team will look to win again in similar fashion Saturday against Texas A&M in their final home match of the regular season.
