Miami Upends Minnesota 4-0 to Advance to NCAA Tournament Round of 16
May 14, 2006
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Winning the doubles point and taking three singles matches, Miami defeated Minnesota 4-0 Sunday afternoon at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center to win the 2006 NCAA Tournament Coral Gables Regional and advance to the tournament’s Round of 16.
With the win over the 41st-ranked Golden Gophers (14-13), the ninth-ranked Hurricanes (20-4), who are the tournament’s No. 9 overall seed, move on to the Round of 16 scheduled May 20-23 on the campus of Stanford University where they will face the winner of Sunday’s Virginia/Wake Forest matched played in Charlottesville, Va.
Hosting an NCAA Regional for the first time in school history Miami opened the day with a pair of wins in doubles, winning at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions.
On court No. 1, UM’s 10th-ranked duo of junior Luigi D’Agord (Freeport, Bahamas) and freshman Daniel Vallverdu (Valencia, Venezuela) overtook Minnesota sophomore Raoul Schwark (Dalheim, Germany) and senior Adrien Debreyne (Mons en Baroeul, France) 8-3. At the No. 2 spot, Miami seniors Tim Krebs (Eschborn, Germany) and Eric Hechtman (Miami, Fla.) clinched the doubles point with an 8-4 victory over the Golden Gophers’ junior Andres Osorio (Quito, Ecuador) and junior D.J. Geatz (Minneapolis, Minn.)
In singles play Miami’s Krebs earned the Hurricanes’ second point of the day defeating Debreyne 6-2, 6-2 at the No. 4 spot.
After taking the first set 6-2, D’Agord, ranked No. 3 nationally, rallied back from a 4-2 deficit to upend Minnesota’s 59th-ranked Geatz 7-5 in the second set at the No. 1 position to bring Miami within one point of the victory.
Shortly afterwards, the Hurricanes’ 81st-ranked junior Josh Cohen (Weston, Fla.) clinched the match and the regional with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Edlefsen on court No. 3.
Miami will make just their second appearance at the Round of 16 since the NCAA Men’s Tennis Tournament field was expanded to 64 teams in 1999. The Hurricanes last advance to the Round of 16 in 2001.
