Women's Tennis Head Out on the Road to Take on Duke and North Carolina
April 5, 2007
Coral Gables, Fla. – The ninth ranked University of Miami women’s tennis team prepares to take on two ACC foes back-to-back on the road in the state of North Carolina. The Hurricanes hope to tie the streak at 8 when they face No. 21 Duke on Friday beginning at 12 p.m. at the Ambler Tennis Stadium, before facing the Tar Heels of No. 14 North Carolina, Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center.
The Hurricanes (15-3, 6-1 ACC), get back into action after hosting league opponents then-No. 70 Virginia Tech as well as then-No. 49 University of Virginia. Miami knocked both squads out the box as they posted a 7-0 score in both matches, marking their sixth sweep of the dual season.
After capturing her second singles defeat of the weekend at the No. 1 slot over the Hokies and Cavaliers, No. 1 ranked Audra Cohen is currently three matches shy of posting 30 victories in singles play as she improved her season record to 27-1 overall to lead the Hurricanes. She remains unbeaten in the dual season and the ACC with 17 consecutive victories, and seven overall in the conference.
Not only does Cohen continue on an unbeaten path in singles, but she remains undefeated in doubles in the dual season and in conference play, and is ranked twice with freshman Laura Vallverdu at No. 23 and junior Caren Seenauth at No. 31. Cohen and Seenauth first partnered up back on February 16th. Since then, the two have been unstoppable with a 12-0 mark overall and are now ranked No. 31 in the nation. With not yet two full seasons under her belt, Cohen has already surpassed former Hurricane Melissa Applebaum (61-31, 2002-05) on the all-time career singles record list with a total of 61 wins and just 3 losses.
Fans welcomed back No. 14 ranked freshman Laura Vallverdu at the Virginia Tech match as she and Cohen partnered up for the first time since February 3rd. After moving up one spot to the No. 1 position and sweeping the Hokies’ Inga Beermann and Jessica Long 8-0, the duo remains undefeated with six total wins. In singles action, the rookie battled it out in her first match also since February 3rd, against junior Lindsey Pereira and captured the 6-1, 7-6 win.
Vallverdu has not landed below the Top 25 mark in the ITA rankings since the beginning of the season. The rookie has moved up two spots in the ITA rankings to No. 14 in the nation, and is one out of just two freshmen ranked in the top 15 currently. Vallverdu ranked No. 6 in the nation entering the spring season that marked her as the highest ranked freshman in the country. Since then, Vallverdu remained atop the rankings sitting at Nos. 23, 11, 16, and now 14. The Valencia, Venezuela native has also never fallen out of the rankings in doubles despite not having played in nine matches, as she and Cohen were ranked at the Nos. 7, 14, 11, 17, and the latest 23, spots in the nation.
Aside from leading in career doubles, senior Audrey Banada, who is ranked 44 in the latest ITA rankings, continues to make her mark in doubles action after she and partner junior Romy Farah defeated Virginia’s Maggie Yahner and Britney Larson 8-3, surpassing her single season record of 30-5 in the 2004-05 season, to 31-7 overall.
Banada is 14-2 overall in dual action in singles play with 6 overall victories against ACC opponents, competing at the No. 2 slot for the Hurricanes. With a mark set at 24-7 overall so far for the season, the senior is now Miami’s all-time leader in career singles with a record of 109-25. She has well-surpassed former Miami Hurricane tennis phenom, Ronni Reis who held the record at 103-21 accumulated during her career at Miami from 1985 to 1988.
Scouting the Blue Devils:
The Hurricanes will face No. 21 ranked Duke, who will be closing out their home schedule this weekend, including a match against No. 17 Florida State.
The Blue Devils are coming off a 4-3 loss to then-No. 7 ranked Georgia Tech last weekend, as all three ranked singles players suffered losses.
However, the two non-ranked singles players, Amanda Granson and Clelia Deltour both captured upsets at the Nos. 4 and 6 positions.
Granson leads the squad with a 20-8 overall record in singles, while Melissa Mang is second on the roster with a 13-10 overall record this season.
Scouting the Tar Heels:
This season, North Carolina is 16-7 in the dual season, including eight wins over teams in the ITA Top 75.
No. 6 ranked senior Jenna Long is currently 16-4 in dual matches at No. 1 singles.
Long and doubles partner Sara Anundsen are 13-2 in dual matches and ranked No. 3 in the nation. The duo is 4-0 in the ACC at No. 1 doubles.
The match against the Tar Heels can be seen live online through ACC Select on www.accselect.com. This online video stream is presented by the Atlantic Coast Conference in partnership with Raycom Sports and Lincoln Financial Sports.
