Hurricanes Upset Notre Dame For BIG EAST Title
April 23, 2000
Coral Gables, FL – The University of Miami women’s tennis team upset 16th-ranked Notre Dame, 5-2, Sunday to claim the BIG EAST Championship and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Women’s Tennis Championships beginning May 12th.
The Hurricanes, hosting the championships for the eighth consecutive year, dominated the lower part of the order taking No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 singles in straight sets. Miami’s Marcy Hora (Delray Beach, FL) starting things off for the Hurricanes with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Nina Vaughn at No. 4 singles. Eva Jimenez (Madrid, Spain) then defeated Notre Dame’s Katie Cunha 6-3, 6-3 at No. 6 followed by a Lauren Scaglione (Seminole, FL) victory over Lindsey Green 6-4, 6-4 at No. 5.
Notre Dame, the defending BIG EAST Champions, battled back as Michelle Dasso, the nation’s 16th ranked player and BIG EAST Player of the Year, defeated Miami’s Alanna Broderick 6-1, 6-3 at No. 1 singles. The Fighting Irish then pulled to within one point when Kelly Zalinski defeated Katia Bogomolova 6-4, 6-0 at No. 3 singles.
The swing match was at No. 2 singles where Miami’s Meredith Laughlin (Miami Killian) defeated Notre Dame’s Becky Varnum 7-6, 6-4 giving the Hurricanes a commanding 4-2 advantage.
Miami then clinched its sixth BIG EAST Championship in the last eight years when Broderick and Jimenez defeated Green and Zalinski 8-5 at No. 2 doubles.
BIG EAST Women’s Tennis Championship Match
#2 Miami 5, #1 Notre Dame 2
Singles
No. 1 Michelle Dasso (ND) def. Alanna Broderick (UM) 6-1, 6-3
No. 2 Meredith Laughlin (UM) def. Becky Varnum (ND) 7-6 (1), 6-4
No. 3 Kelly Zalinski (ND) def. Katia Bogomolova (UM) 6-4, 6-0
No. 4 Marcy Hora (UM) def. Nina Vaughn (ND) 6-2, 6-0
No. 5 Lauren Scaglione (UM) def. Lindsey Green (ND) 6-4, 6-4
No. 6 Eva Jimenez (UM) def. Katie Cunha (ND) 6-3, 6-3
Doubles
No. 1 Dasso/Varnum (ND) vs. Hora/Bogomolova (UM) DNF
No. 2 Broderick/Jimenez (UM) def. Green/Zalinski (ND) 8-5
No. 3 Cunha/Vaughn (ND) vs. Laughlin/Scaglione (UM) DNF
