Women's Tennis Wraps Up Home Schedule This Weekend
March 27, 2008
CORAL GABLES, <?xml:namespace prefix=”st1″ ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags”?>Fla. – The 14th-ranked University of Miami women’s tennis team will host a pair of Top 15 opponents this weekend in No. 6 Duke and No. 12 North Carolina as the Hurricanes wrap up their regular season home schedule at the NeilSchiffTennisCenter. UM will play its first night match at home this season when they battle the Blue Devils Friday at 6 p.m. before it takes on UNC Sunday at 12 p.m.
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Seniors Caren Seenauth, Romy Farah and Gina Sabatino will be honored at Sunday’s match against the Tar Heels prior to their final regular season home match as Hurricanes. Sunday has also been tabbed “Youth Day”, where all kids in the eighth grade and under are invited to join the team in a free demonstration after the match, in addition to a number of promotions and giveaways throughout the afternoon.
Miami comes into the weekend with a record of 10-4 overall and 3-2 in Atlantic Coast Conference play after sweeping the conference’s two teams from the state of Virginia over the weekend, beating then-No. 50 Virginia, 6-1, in Charlottesville on Saturday before picking up a 4-3 win at No. 47 Virginia Tech on Sunday.
Sophomore All-American Laura Vallverdu, currently the ITA’s 21st-ranked singles player in the country, has won nine of her last 10 matches in UM’s No. 1 singles position, including a pair of convincing wins over the weekend against Amanda Rales of UVa and Inga Beermann of Virginia Tech.
Yaroshuk-Tews Closing In On Record
UM head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews, in her seventh season at the helm of the women’s tennis program, needs just four more wins to surpass Ian Duvenhage’s 131 career wins to become the school’s all-time winningest coach. With 118 wins coming into the 2007-08 season, Yaroshuk-Tews has led UM to 10 wins so far this spring and needs just three wins to tie and four to pass Duvenhage’s mark with six regular season matches remaining.
ACC in the Rankings
Ten of the ACC’s 12 teams are currently ranked in the ITA Top 50 with all three teams playing this weekend in Coral Gables sitting inside the Top 15. No. 3 Georgia Tech leads the group in the rankings and after Duke, UNC and UM, FloridaState, Clemson and WakeForest are all ranked within the ITA Top 30. Virginia (38), NC State (42), Virginia Tech (50) and BostonCollege (69) are the league’s other four ranked teams while Maryland is the only league member currently not ranked in the ITA Top 75.
About Duke
The Blue Devils come in with a mark of 11-2 overall and 4-1 in ACC play. Last weekend, Duke knocked off No. 2 Georgia Tech, 4-3, on Saturday, before being upset by No. 34 Clemson the following day, 6-1. Tara Iyer and Ellah Nze have split time in the No. 1 singles position, with Granson going 4-5 and Nze coming in at 3-1. Duke is strongest in the middle of its lineup, where Reka Zsilinszka (8-1) and Elizabeth Plotkin (4-0) have combined to win 12 of 13 at No. 3.
About North Carolina
UNC owns a record of 12-5 overall and 3-1 in league action heading into its match at FloridaState on Friday. The Tar Heels have won six of their last seven, with their lone loss coming at home to No. 2 Georgia Tech this past weekend. Sanaz Marand has had an impressive spring thus far, going 15-1 overall, 7-1 at No. 1 and 8-0 at No. 2. UNC has also lost just one match at No. 2, with Katrina Tsang (6-1) and Jelena Durisic (1-0) joining Marand for a combined mark of 15-1 in that spot.
All-Time Series
The Blue Devils own a slight 7-9 edge over Miami all-time while the Hurricanes have won 12 of 14 meetings against the Tar Heels. Miami has split its matches with each school over the last two seasons, beating both Duke and UNC in Coral Gables in 2006 before falling to both last season in North Carolina.
Up Next
After this weekend’s regular season home finale, the Hurricanes will embark on a four-match road trip over the next two weeks leading up to the ACC Tournament. Miami will head to BostonCollege, Saturday, April 5 at 10 a.m. before turning around to play at Maryland, Sunday, April 6 at 10 a.m. again. The `Canes final regular season road trip will be at NC State and at WakeForest, April 12-13.
