No. 13 Miami Upsets No. 7 Duke in Regular Season Finale
April 16, 2006
CORAL GABLES, <?xml:namespace prefix=”st1″ ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags”?>Fla.– The 13th ranked Miami women’s tennis team finished the regular season tied for first in the Atlantic Coast Conference standings after upsetting seventh ranked Duke, 4-2, Sunday afternoon at the NeilSchiffTennisCenter. <?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>
Miami, Duke and Georgia Tech finished the regular season in a three-way tie for first in the standings with 9-2 records in league play, respectively. The Hurricanes improved to 17-5 overall while the Blue Devils fell to 16-6. The Hurricanes have now defeated the Blue Devils in three of their last four meetings.
“I’m really proud of the team’s effort today,” said head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews. “Every time they give this kind of effort, we get the results that we did today. I’m proud of their turn around from last weekend.”
The match opened up with doubles where the Hurricanes lost the doubles point for only the third time this season. After falling at No. 2 doubles, all eyes turned to courts No. 1 and No. 3. Despite having a 6-4 lead, Miami’s fifth ranked tandem of Melissa Applebaum and Audra Cohen suffered its first loss of the season when Duke’s Daniela Bercek/Jennifer Zika pair claimed a 9-7 upset victory to give Duke a 1-0 lead heading into singles. Miami’s Caren Seenauth and Patricia Starzyk downed Tara Iyer and Jessi Robison, 9-8, to end doubles play.
The Hurricanes got on the board when Cohen, ranked second in the nation, claimed a 6-3, 6-0 straight set victory over Bercek, ranked 6th, at the No. 1 singles position. Cohen ends the regular season with a 25-0 overall record and a 15-0 mark against ranked opponents.
Seenauth defeated Jennifer Zika, 6-1, 6-1 at the No. 6 slot before Monika Dancevic, ranked 112th, downed No. 109 Melissa Mang, 6-3, 6-2 at the No.3 position to give the Hurricanes a 3-1 match lead.
The Blue Devils picked up their first singles win after No. 29 Jackie Carleton defeated Applebaum 6-2, 6-4 at the No. 2 position.
With Miami holding a 3-2 match lead, Starzyk defeated Clelia Deltour 7-6 (9-6), 6-4 at the No. 5 slot to clinch the upset victory.
The match marked the final regular season home match for Applebaum. The Coral Gables, Fla. native is second all-time in doubles with a 98-29 career record behind former Miami great Lise Gregory.
The Hurricanes return to action at the ACC Championships that will run Thursday, April 19th thru Sunday, April 23rd in Cary, N.C. Seedings for the tournament will be released on Monday.
