Women's Tennis Rank Fifth to Start the 2007 Season
Jan. 10, 2007
Coral Gables, Fla. – The University of Miami women’s tennis team will kick off the 2007 dual-match season ranked fifth in the Preseason Fila Collegiate Tennis Rankings that are administered by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), it was announced Tuesday. Four singles players rank in the top 100, while two doubles teams rank in the top 10. The Hurricanes look forward to commencing their duel match season.
This spring, the Hurricanes have made their presence known in the 2007 Preseason Fila Collegiate Tennis Rankings as they are the fifth ranked intercollegiate women’s tennis team in the country. Four singles players rank in the top 100 including junior Audra Cohen at No.1, and freshman Laura Vallverdu who is ranked No. 6, making her the highest ranked freshman in the NCAA rankings.
Cohen (34-2), a native of Plantation, Fla. has been the No. 1-ranked player five different times since 2005 and finished last year also ranked No. 1 among college tennis players. In November, Cohen captured the ITA National Indoor Championships, the second national singles title of her career.
“Without a doubt, this season will be Audra’s strongest season yet”, commented head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews.
Entering the 2007 season as the highest ranked freshman at No. 6, shows that Vallverdu has proven to be one of the best players in intercollegiate tennis. After not having been ranked in the fall preseason, Vallverdu advanced to the finals at the Flight A’s of the Desert Collegiate Classic and captured the victory. Out of all five opponents she defeated, three were ranked nationally in the ITA.
“Having a freshman who has four years in front of her, staring her spring season ranked No.6 in the country shows how impressive of a player Laura really is”, stated Yaroshuk-Tews.
Also in the top 100 in singles is junior Romy Farah, who is ranked No. 53. Farah opened the fall season ranked No.120 with an 8-6 record in singles and 15-3 in doubles.
Closing out her final season with UM’s tennis program, senior Audrey Banada is ranked No. 56. She has etched a successful career in Miami’s record book. Having earned many accolades throughout her career, and played a vital role in the success of the program in four years, Banada has proven to be one of the best athletes Miami has seen.
“The fact that Romy and Audrey are coming in at the No. 53 and No. 56 spot respectively, shows that we are not only solid at one and two”, Yaroshuk-Tews explained, “But we are without a doubt just as strong at three and four.”
In recent years, the Hurricanes have had one outstanding doubles team ranked in the preseason. This spring Miami has two doubles teams ranked in the top 10 of the ITA rankings. Duos Audrey Banada and Romy Farah open the 2007 season ranked No. 6, while Audra Cohen and Laura Vallverdu follow right behind ranked No.7 in the nation.
“To have two teams out there ranked as high as these girls are ranked, and as good as these girls are, just shows how good this program is”, Yaroshuk-Tews stated.
This season’s rankings sees a large presence amongst Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) schools, as the league has seven teams ranked in the Top 25, led by Miami in fifth. Georgia Tech (7), North Carolina (8), Duke (10), Clemson (17), Wake Forest (18), and Virginia (25) round out the remaining schools who have dominated this season’s ITA rankings. The ACC has seven teams in all in the Top 25.
Stanford and Florida, two teams who continue to sit at the top of the charts of the preseason rankings, are ranked at the No.1 and No. 2 spots followed by Southern California who is also no stranger to the rankings at No. 3.
This season, the Hurricanes will face 15 teams that are ranked in the Top 75, nine of which are among the Top 25, and four among the Top 10.
The 2007 schedule is highlighted by a 14-game home slate, visits to four of the toughest ACC opponents on the road, and their third consecutive appearance in the largest and most prestigious intercollegiate tennis tournament, the USTA/ITA National Indoor Championship. Out of the 16 teams invited to the National Indoors, Miami will face 13 that are in the top 30 in early February.
Head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews is excited about the strength and depth this season’s schedule has to offer, as it embodies the toughest she has seen throughout her 10 years with the program.
The Hurricanes will take on 14 teams that made the 2006 NCAA Division I Women’s Tennis Championships (Florida International University, Texas, Florida, Michigan, Western Michigan, Wake Forest, North Carolina State, Harvard, Georgia Tech, Clemson, Virginia Tech, Virginia, Duke, North Carolina, Maryland, and Boston College), including four that advanced to the round of 16 and a semi-final runner-up Florida.
Miami kicks off the 2007 campaign across town at the FIU Invitational Jan. 19-21. The following week, the Hurricanes open with a home match against Florida Atlantic University on the 26th. The team will close out the weekend on the 27th as they take on Princeton.
The month of February will bring some of Miami’s biggest competitors and not to mention the largest and most prestigious intercollegiate tennis tournament, the USTA/ITA National Indoor Championship. The tournament will kick off right at the start from the 1-3 in Madison, Wis. This will be the Hurricanes’ third consecutive invite. Last season, Miami reached the quarterfinals after defeating No. 52 Wisconsin 5-2.
UM will be home the following weekend to face two-time NCAA National Champions Texas on the 16th before finishing out the weekend in Gainesville against in-state rival and last season’s No. 2 ranked team, Florida. The talented Florida team includes five players who were ranked in the fall ITA preseason singles rankings, including No. 9 Diana Srebrovic.
“Playing Florida at Florida is the biggest character-building experience an athlete will endure while in college”, said Yaroshuk-Tews. “This is an away match that really is going to say a lot about the character of our program based on how we respond.”
With seven back-to-back home matches at the start of March, the Hurricanes will commence their ACC play after taking on FIU, Michigan, and Western Michigan before the Seminoles of Florida State head to Coral Gables.
Despite the amount of home matches on this season’s schedule, Yaroshuk-Tews believes this season will be defined by how well the Hurricanes play on the road.
“We have such big and important matches at other facilities this year that I think it will bring to surface the true talent and the extreme amount of intensity this team really has,” Yaroshuk-Tews explained.
