Hurricane Pair Selected to Participate at NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships

May 4, 2006

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Miami’s Luigi D’Agord has been selected as the No. 3 overall seed at the 2006 NCAA Singles Championships and will pair with teammate Daniel Vallverdu at the Doubles Championships as announced Thursday by the NCAA Championship Subcommittee.

The 2006 NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships will be held May 24-29 at the Taube Tennis Center in Stanford, Ca., following the conclusion of the team championship May 20-23.

A day after the ninth-ranked Hurricanes received a bid to host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Team Championships May 13-14, D’Agord, the 2006 ACC Player of the Year who is ranked No. 3 nationally in the latest Fila/ITA Rankings, received the 64-person singles tournament’s overall No. 3 seed.

He is currently 33-4 overall this season with a 19-1 record in dual matches.

Having already accomplished one of the most impressive seasons in Hurricane history, his 33 wins tie him for fourth-highest single season total in the UM record books and he currently has the highest single season win percentage (.892) among the 20 players in school history who have won 24 or more matches.

He has posted a 20-3 record against ranked opponents and throughout the regular season was the only player in the ACC to go undefeated (11-0) in league play.

D’Agord becomes the second player to advance to the NCAA Singles Championships under second year head coach Mario Rincon, who was recently named the 2006 ACC Coach of the Year. Last season, now-junior Josh Cohen participated in the 2005 NCAA Singles Championships.

D’Agord will pair with Vallverdu, the 2006 ACC Freshman of the Year, as an at-large selection in the 32-team NCAA Doubles Championships.

Ranked No. 10 as a doubles tandem, D’Agord and Vallverdu hold an overall record of 15-4 with a 14-4 mark in dual play.

Pairings for both the singles and doubles tournaments will be announced at a later date by the NCAA Championship Subcommittee.