Notre Dame began the weekend in style as sophomore Kristy Frilling won her opening round match in the ITA National Indoor Championships Thursday. The Irish will also send a doubles pairing to Kalamazoo, Mich., for the Western Michigan Invitational beginning today.
Frilling had to wait until mid-week to learn she had qualified for the Indoor Championships after the 20th-ranked singles player in the country lost to top-ranked Maria Mosolova, 6-1, 6-3, in the finals of the Midwest Regional Singles Championships.
Frilling opened the National Championships in number one form, beating No. 26 Mari Andersson of California in three sets.
Louderback said he believes Frilling could win the tournament outright, as made evident by her first round victory.
"She has a shot at winning. Everyone out there is good so it'll be a tough tournament, but Kristy is good indoors and has been playing well," Louderback said. "She had a good regional so we are looking for her to do well out there."
Frilling will next face eighth-seeded Venise Chan of Washington today at 10:30 a.m.
While Frilling takes on Chan, an impromptu doubles pairing of senior Kali Krisik and junior Kristen Rafael will open play at the Western Michigan Invitational. The fall schedule is not solely for returning to competition Louderback said, looking forward to the spring season.
"We do [look at the results from the fall] when we begin looking at positions they'll play in the spring," he said.
Frilling, Krisik and Rafael will have a chance to help their spring positions this weekend as the three wrap up Notre Dame's fall schedule.
