November 7, 1998
Notre Dame, Ind. ---- Notre Dame freshman Becky Varnum's bid to
become the second Notre Dame tennis player to win the ITA Midwest Championship
title fell short as she dropped a three-set decision to Michelle Lund of Michigan
in the semifinals of the ITA Midwest Championships at Notre Dame's Eck Tennis
Pavilion. Lund, a nine through 16 seed in the tournament, bested the Irish
rookie in three sets by taking a 7-5, 5-7, 7-5 victory.
Lund will face Marquette's Ana Fernandez in the final on Sunday.
Fernandez, another nine through 16 seed in the field, beat Simone Kung of
Illinois in straight sets 6-3, 6-3.
Varnum, who advanced to the semifinals with two wins over seeded players
in the third round and quarterfinals, was looking to become the second straight
Notre Dame freshman to win the ITA Midwest crown. At the 1997 championships,
Michelle Dasso earned the title. Dasso, a sophomore, was the top-seeded player
in this year's tournament, but was beaten in the third round.
After dropping the first set 5-7, Varnum fell behind 1-4 in the second,
but came back to win six of the next seven games to take the second set 7-4.
With the momentum clearly in her favor, Varnum went up 4-1 in the third, before
Lund won five straight games to take a 5-4 lead. Serving at 4-5, she evened the
match at five games each before Lund won the final two games.
Kelly Zalinski lost in the semifinals of the consolation singles draw.
She beat Pamela Rodriguez of Butler 7-6, 6-2, but dropped a straight set decision
to Jessica Anderson of Indiana 6-1, 7-5.
All three of Notre Dame's doubles team remained in the main doubles draw
to start the day, but all three lost in either the quarterfinals or semifinals.
The third-seeded team of Dasso and Jennifer Hall beat Jean Kansuthi and Simone
Duhme in the quarterfinals 6-4, 6-0, but lost to the tournament's second seeded
duo of Kristy Dacoli and Brianna Harris of Ohio State 6-4, 6-3.
Lindsey Green and Sarah Scaringe dropped a 6-2, 6-1 decision to the
number one seeded team of Ana Fernandez and Sarah Fernandez of Marquette. Also
losing in the quartefinals were Irish tandem of Nina Vaughan and Kelly Zalinski
as they were beaten 6-2, 6-1 by the Wisconsin team of Andrea Nathan and Barbara
Urbanska, the tournament's fourth seed.
The finals will be played tomorrow at the Eck Tennis Pavilion with
singles matches beginning at 9:00 a.m.
