No. 10 Women's Tennis Overpowers No. 30 Michigan, 6-1
Feb. 3, 2008
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – For the second straight day, the 10th-ranked University of Miami women’s tennis team picked up a 6-1 win over a nationally-ranked opponent with a dominant victory over No. 30 Michigan Sunday at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center, just a day after beating No. 31 FIU.
With the win, the Hurricanes improve to 3-0 on the season after three consecutive convincing wins at home to open the spring. The Wolverines drop to 1-3 overall after opening the season against four-straight ranked opponents.
“I was proud of the way we competed today,” head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said. “We fought a lot harder than Michigan and it showed with our play, especially in the tight matches.”
Romy Farah and Laura Vallverdu opened doubles play with an 8-3 win over Chisako Sugiyama and Tania Mahtani in the No. 1 position, giving Miami the early lead for the doubles point.
The `Canes then fell behind early on in both the No. 2 and No. 3 positions, trailing the Wolverines 2-4 and 3-5 respectively. Knowing they needed just one more win to claim the doubles point, both Gina Sabatino and Michaela Kissell in the No. 2 spot and Caren Seenauth and Bianca Eichkorn in the No. 3 spot rallied from behind to pick up close, 9-7, wins. Seenauth and Eichkorn won six of the final eight points to put the Hurricanes up 1-0 while Sabatino and Kissell finished off Michigan moments later after taking six of the final seven points to give Miami a doubles sweep.
In singles action, Seenauth picked up Miami’s second point with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Rika Tatsuno in the No. 5 position and No. 29 Vallverdu followed that up with a 6-1, 6-4 win in the No. 1 spot, beating Chisako Sugiyama, 6-1, 6-4 to improve to 6-1 this spring. With UM up 3-0, Eichkorn won the deciding fourth point for the Hurricanes with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Denise Muresan at No. 4.
The final three matches would go to a third set tie-breaker, with UM taking two of the three to clinch the 6-1 win. Farah, in the No. 2 position, and Kissell, in the No. 3 spot, each won the first set, dropped the second before prevailing in the tie-breaker. In the No. 6 position, Sabatino also won her first set but fell in the second and eventually in the tiebreaker.
UM will now head to Madison, Wis. this week to participate in the 2008 USTA/ITA National Indoors, Feb. 8-10. The event, hosted by the University of Wisconsin, features 16 teams nationally, including 13 teams currently ranked in the ITA’s Top 15.
No. 10 Miami 6, No. 30 Michigan 1
Singles
1. No. 29 Laura Vallverdu (Miami) def. Chisako Sugiyama (Michigan), 6-1, 6-4
2. Romy Farah (Miami) def. Whitney Taney (Michigan), 7-6, 4-6, 1-0 (3)
3. Michaela Kissell (Miami) def. Tania Mahtani (Michigan), 7-5, 2-6, 1-0 (6)
4. Bianca Eichkorn (Miami) def. Denise Muresan (Michigan), 6-4, 6-2
5. Caren Seenauth (Miami) def. Rika Tatsuno (Michigan), 6-1, 6-3
6. Lindsey Howard (Michigan) def. Gina Sabatino (Miami), 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (2)
Order of Finish: 5, 1, 4*, 6, 3, 2
Doubles
1. Romy Farah/Laura Vallverdu (Miami) def. Chisako Sugiyama/Tania Mahtani (Michigan), 8-3
2. Michaela Kissell/Jenna Osborne (Miami) def. Whitney Taney/Rika Tatsuno (Michigan), 9-7
3. Bianca Eichkorn/Caren Seenauth (Miami) def. Lindsey Howard/Denise Muresan (Michigan), 9-7
Order of Finish: 1, 3*, 2
