Hurricanes Wrap Up Their Regular At Home against the Terps and the Eagles
April 12, 2007
Coral Gables, Fla. – The tenth-ranked University of Miami women’s tennis squad will take to the courts this weekend to compete in their final two regular-season matches against Atlantic Coast Conference foes University of Maryland Friday at 2 p.m., and Boston College Sunday beginning at 12 p.m.
Sunday’s match will be significant to the careers of seniors Audrey Banada and Emily Mowery, as it marks their final regular-season match as a Miami Hurricane in front of fans.
Banada, ranked forty-fourth in the latest Fila Collegiate Tennis Rankings rankings, is Miami’s all-time leader in career doubles with a record of 130-32, surpassing former Hurricane, Melissa Applebaum. The North Miami Beach, Fla. native currently has a 103-22 career mark in singles and is one win shy of capturing the top spot as the all time career leader in singles above Ronni Reis.
Mowery is a two-time letter-winner who has been ranked as high as No. 69 in singles by the ITA, and captured a career best record of 24-8 helping the Hurricanes reach the mark as a top-10 team in the nation for the first time since 1989, her sophomore season. The Bradenton, Fla. native has been ranked in the top-100 of the collegiate tennis rankings on six different occasions throughout her career.
Miami (15-5, 6-3 ACC) fell just one spot in the latest ITA rankings to No. 10 under Nos. 4 and 5-ranked Georgia Tech and Clemson respectively, who round out the remaining ACC schools in the top-10. The Hurricanes also sit at the No. 3 spot in the ACC standings, while the Tigers (17-3, 8-1 ACC) and the Yellow Jackets (17-4, 8-1ACC) top the chart at Nos. 1 and 2 respectively.
The Hurricanes look to get back on a winning path after finishing 0-2 last weekend against Duke and North Carolina. Miami fell 4-3 to the then-No. 21 Blue Devils in Durham, before suffering a 5-2 loss to then-No 14 North Carolina in Chapel Hill the following day.
Despite the losses, No. 1-ranked Audra Cohen posted two solid wins in singles play against both of her opponents. After Miami fell in doubles versus the Blue Devils, Cohen responded with a 6-3, 6-1 win over the Duke’s then-No. 59 Daniela Bercek in singles, to put the Hurricanes on the board. The competition truly surfaced the following day for the Plantation, Fla. native, when she took on then-No. 6 Jenna Long in what turned into a third-set 10-point tie-breaker. Cohen upended Long, 6-4, 3-6, (10-8) at the No. 1 slot to finish the match. She is now one win shy of 30 total victories on the season with a record of 29-1 overall.
In doubles, Cohen and partner Caren Seenauth ranked No. 23, suffered their first loss of the season in the North Carolina match falling to then-No. 28 Caitlin Collins Sanaz Marand 8-6, to finish the weekend with a 13-1 overall record.
Fourteenth-ranked freshman Laura Vallverdu also captured back-to-back wins in singles defeating junior Tory Zawacki of Duke, 7-5, 6-3, and North Carolina senior Caitlin Collins 6-1, 6-3. The Valencia, Venezuela native is the second player on the Hurricane roster undefeated in singles in the dual season with an 8-0 record.
Scouting the opponents:
The Terp’s (8-12, 2-7 ACC) Marianne Baker leads the squad with an 18-15 overall record and 11-9 on the dual season. Baker and Michal Amir both lead the team in ACC wins with a 3-6 record apiece.
The Eagles (4-14, 0-9 ACC) will head to Coral Gables after snapping a nine-match losing streak defeating cross-town rival Boston University, led by sophomore Lana Krasnopolsky who has won five of her last six matches at No. 1 spot, upon which three came against ranked opponents.
Fans can follow all the action live thru LIVE STATS exclusively on hurricanesports.com. Stay tuned for up-to-date Miami tennis results and recaps.
