No. 7 Miami Returns Home For Two Matches This Weekend
Feb. 15, 2008
CORAL GABLES, <?xml:namespace prefix=”st1″ ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags”?>Fla. – Coming off its fourth consecutive quarterfinal appearance at the ITA National Women’s Team Indoor Championships, the seventh-ranked University of Miami women’s tennis team returns home this weekend to host UCF Saturday, Feb. 16 at 12 p.m. and No. 10 Baylor Sunday, Feb. 17 at 11 a.m. at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center.<?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>
The Hurricanes have the opened season winning five of their first six, with four wins coming against Top 40 opposition and their lone loss coming at the hands of then-No. 1 Stanford. This past weekend, UM picked up a 4-1 win over No. 13 William & Mary to open the ITA Indoor Championships, and after a hard-fought 4-3 loss to the top-ranked Cardinal, the `Canes bounced back with a 4-3 win over then-No. 7 Cal in quarterfinal consolation play Saturday.
“This weekend will show a lot about our character as a team,” head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said. “Coming off of a strong showing at National Indoors, we need to be resilient and back up our solid results.”
After going 3-0 in singles play at the No. 3 position, Michaela Kissell was named to the National Women’s Team Indoor Championships All-Tournament Team. No. 29 Laura Vallverdu also had a big weekend in the No. 1 position, with wins over No. 39 Lindsay Burdette of Stanford and No. 10 Susie Babos of Cal.
UCF enters Saturday’s match with a mark of 2-2 this spring. The Knights split their most recent matches this past weekend, losing to No. 22 Florida State, 7-0, before reversing the score with a 7-0 win over Florida A&M the next day. Elvira Serrot opened the season at the No.1 position for UCF before Jenny Frisell took over the top spot against the Rattlers.
Baylor comes in with a record of 4-1, with wins over No. 26 BYU, Hawai’i, No. 75 Wisconsin and No. 19 Notre Dame and its lone loss coming to Stanford in the opening round of the ITA Indoors. Zuzana Zemenova leads the Bears at the top of the lineup, followed by Taylor Ormond and Lenka Broosova, who have split time in the No. 2 position.
“UCF is an up and coming program that has improved immensely and Baylor is a Top 10 program,” Yaroshuk-Tews said. “I’m excited to have our team back home. Miami is a tough place to play for any program and it will be fun to finally be back in our element.”
Miami is a combined 11-1 all-time against UCF and Baylor. The `Canes hold a perfect 7-0 mark against the Knights, including a 7-0 sweep in 2005 in the most recent match-up between the two schools. UM has won four of five all-time meetings against Baylor, including a 6-1 win over the Bears in consolation play at last season’s ITA Indoors.
After this weekend’s matches, the Hurricanes will turn their attention to No. 34 Wichita State, who will come to town Saturday, Feb. 23 for a rematch of last year’s NCAA Regional battle that UM won, 4-0.
Click here for live results of both of this weekend’s matches. Sunday’s match against Baylor can also be viewed live via ACC Select at www.ACCSelect.com.
