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By SYDNEY BLAND
Action! Editor
action@arkcity.net

Sophomore Kali Krisik, of Arkansas City, Kan., and the 22nd-ranked University of Notre Dame women's tennis team (21-8) earned the Big East conference's automatic bid and was invited to the Miami sub-regional for their first- and second-round matches in the 2008 NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championship. Play begins today at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center, in Miami, Fla.

The Irish will face Florida International in their first round match-up at 2 p.m. (EST), with Miami and Quinnipiac to meet in the second match of the day. The winners of today's matches will meet in the sub-regional championship at 11 a.m. (EST) Saturday.

Notre Dame has reached the NCAA Championship for the 13th consecutive season and 15th time in the last 16 years.

The winner of the second-round match will advance to Tulsa, which will play host to the final four rounds of the tournament at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center May 15-26. The team emerging from Coral Gables will face the team from the Waco sub-regional that features No. 5 seed Baylor, as well as Oral Roberts, TCU and Tulsa.

Miami (Fla.) is ranked 12th in the nation, third among teams in the ITA's South Region. Miami (Fla.) was 8-2 in league play during the regular season to finish third in the ACC behind No. 3 Georgia Tech and No. 9 Duke. The Hurricanes reached the second round of the conference tourney, but fell 4-2 to the No. 15 nationally ranked Florida State Seminoles. Quinnipiac finished first in the Northeast Conference with a 2-0 mark, and went on to bring home the NEC tournament championship, defeating Long Island 4-2 in the finals.

"I feel really good about my game right now," said Krisik in a telephone interview Thursday night. The team arrived in Miami yesterday. "When the year started, I wasn't at the top of my game and wasn't sure if I would make the singles team or not."

Krisik did well enough to make the team; ranking sixth. She currently holds fifth position.

According to Krisik, she will be playing three doubles and six singles matches in Miami.

"We have three really solid doubles teams now," said Krisik.

Notre Dame attained its highest ever seeding two years ago, when it was tabbed the No. 2 seed in the event. Last season the Irish reached the quarterfinals, which equaled Notre Dame's top performance in the event since moving up to the Division I level in 1985-86 (the Irish reached the quarterfinals in 1996 and 2006).

The Irish have made 15 NCAA appearances since their first trip in 1993, reaching the round of 16 on seven occasions and the 1996, 2006 and 2007 quarterfinals. Only 10 other schools have been invited to 14+ NCAA tournaments since `93: Arizona State, California, Duke, Florida, Georgia, Pepperdine, USC, Stanford, Texas and UCLA. This will mark the fifth time the Irish have played an opponent from the Sun Belt conference, going 3-1 in the previous four, including 2-0 under coach Jay Louderback.

For the ninth consecutive year, the NCAA Championship features a field of 64 teams, consisting of 31 automatically qualifying conference champions and 33 at-large selections.

"I'm really excited about being here in Miami and playing in the NCAAs," said Krisik. "But I'm very ready to come home."

For more information on the NCAA tournament, including a full NCAA tournament

notes package and match start times, check: www.und.com as this information will be posted when it becomes available.

The University of Notre Dame Sports Media Department contributed to this story.