Cohen Earns Automatic Bid to the NCAA Individual Championships
May 3, 2007
Coral Gables, Fla. – No.1-ranked junior Audra Cohen captured her second consecutive automatic bid as the No. 1-seeded player to the NCAA Singles Championship, when the NCAA announced Wednesday the field of 64 singles players and 32 doubles teams that will compete in the 2007 NCAA Women’s Tennis Individual Championships.
The singles competition will take place May 23-28 at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex on the campus of the University of Georgia in Athens at the conclusion of the team championship that will be held in the same site, May 18-22.
The announcement marks the third consecutive season that a No. 1-seed hails from the University of Miami. Prior to Cohen making the top seed last year, former Hurricane standout Megan Bradley was seeded first heading into the 2005 NCAA Singles Championships.
The Atlantic Coast Conference fields three players on the automatic qualifying list. In the sixth-seed behind Cohen is Georgia Tech’s Kristi Miller, followed by North Carolina’s Jenna Long who earned the 14th-seed.
As the nation’s top-ranked player since the conclusion of the 2006 season, Cohen has a 34-2 overall record with a 23-1 mark in dual-match play, and concluded conference action with a 13-1 record.
After capturing 11 consecutive wins in ACC matches, the Plantation, Fla. native earned the 2007 ACC Women’s Tennis Player of Year award, and finished 2-1 at the conference championships.
Cohen posted a 28-match win-streak prior to falling in her only match of the dual season to then-No. 8 Miller, at the ACC Championships.
Capturing at-large bids in singles were No. 48 senior Audrey Banada and freshman Laura Vallverdu, who is ranked 23rd in the nation. In doubles, at-large selections were given to seventeenth-ranked Cohen and Vallverdu followed by the duo of Banada and Romy Farah.
The Hurricanes are back in action when they host the NCAA Women’s Tennis Regionals for the third consecutive season. The first and second rounds begin May 12-13, as Miami welcomes Alabama A&M, South Carolina, and Wichita State to the Neil Schiff Tennis Center. The Hurricanes will face Alabama A&M Saturday at 1 p.m.
Tickets to the first and second round matches are $5 dollars for adults and $3 dollars for students, children and senior citizens. To purchase tickets or for additional information, please contact the Hurricane Ticket Office at 1-800-GO-CANES, or visit online at hurricanesports.com.
