DePaul University

CHICAGO - The No. 22 DePaul women's tennis team prepares for one of its biggest weekends of the year as it closes out the regular season with duals against BIG EAST Conference rivals No. 5 Notre Dame and Marquette.  Both matches are scheduled for Notre Dame's Courtney Tennis Center with the Blue Demons squaring off with the Irish at 4 p.m. (CST) on Friday, April 16 and against the Golden Eagles on Saturday at 11 a.m.

DePaul (15-3) enters the weekend on a six-match winning streak while it is 5-1 in league duals with its only loss at then-No. 6 Notre Dame on Jan. 30.  In DePaul's last six matches, dating back to March 25 at Florida Atlantic, the Blue Demons have surrendered just seven total matches in both singles and doubles action.   

With the team playing exceptionally well, each of DePaul's seven rostered student-athletes have won at least one singles match entering Friday's showdown with Notre Dame while Selma Salkovic has won her last seven matches. 

Salkovic leads the Blue Demons with 21 singles victories while Katarina Milinkovic follows with 20.

In doubles action, DePaul's 12th ranked pair of Anna Redecsi and Salkovic enter the weekend with an impressive 26-5 record and have won their last six matches.  Even more notable than the tandems record is the fact that they have gone 6-2 against other ranked pairs this season. 

In those eight matches against ranked opponents, Redecsi and Salkovic are 2-2 against those ranked in the top 15. One of those loses was a close 8-6 match to Tennessee's No. 1 tandem of Caitlin Whoriskey and Natalie Pluskota at the ITA Indoor Championship in November.

Salkovic and Redecsi will most likely face the Irish pair of Kristy Frilling and Kali Krisik, who enter the weekend ranked No. 3 in the country. The two teams have met twice this season with each tandem winning one - DePaul won in November to advance to the ITA Indoor Championship while Frilling and Krisik won in January at the Courtney Tennis Center.

DePaul and Notre Dame (17-3, 2-0 BIG EAST)  are meeting for the sixth time in five years on Friday. The Irish have won the five previous meetings, including the BIG EAST Championship match in 2009 and the ITA Team Qualifier this past January.     

With on 17 hours separating this weekend's duals, the Blue Demons tangle with Marquette (12-11, 0-0 BIG EAST) for the seventh time in as many seasons.  DePaul has won five of those matches while the Golden Eagles topped DePaul, 4-3 in 2008. The Blue Demons won the 2009 dual 7-0 while they also picked up shutout victories in 2006 and 2005.

Marquette is led by Kelly Barry and Gillian Hush who both have over 20 singles victories this season.  Barry plays in both the second and third positions while 11 of Hush's victories came in the number six slot.

Following this weekend's duals, the Blue Demons await the BIG EAST Championship pairings on Monday, April 19.  The league championship will be played at the Courtney Tennis Center April 22-25.