Laura Vallverdu Continues To Rise In National Rankings
April 22, 2008
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Sophomore All-American Laura Vallverdu has entered the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Top 20 in both singles and doubles play in the same week for just the second time this season, ranking No. 19 in singles and No. 20 in doubles with teammate Romy Farah in the latest rankings released Tuesday.
Vallverdu, who was recently named to the Atlantic Coast Conference Women’s Tennis All-Conference Team for the second consecutive season, moved up from No. 22 to No. 19 after cruising to an easy 6-4, 6-0 win over Florida State’s Katie Rybakova – the 24th-ranked singles player nationally at the time. It marks just the second time this season Vallverdu (27-9, 9-2 ACC) has been ranked better than No. 20 in singles play after coming in at No. 14 from Feb. 20 to March 3.
In the doubles rankings, Vallverdu and Farah moved up one spot from No. 21 after shutting out the Seminoles’ then-No. 54 team of Rybakova and Ania Rynarzewska, 8-0, in the top doubles position.
The Hurricanes (15-5) slid back just one spot in the latest team rankings, falling from No. 11 to No. 12 after a close loss to then-No. 19 FSU in the quarterfinal round of last week’s ACC Championship in Altamonte Springs, Fla.
A winner of 14 of her last 16 singles matches in the No. 1 position, Vallverdu has moved up 10 spots in singles play from her No. 29 ranking in mid-February. She is joined in the singles rankings by Farah and freshman Michaela Kissell. Kissell slid back five spots in the rankings to No. 62 after her match at the championship against then-No. 68 Lauren Macfarlane was unable to be finished. Farah dropped from No. 80 to No. 96 after falling 6-4, 6-2 against then-No. 72 Carolin Walter in the No. 3 spot.
Northwestern, Stanford, Baylor, Georgia and UCLA make up the current ITA Top 5. Georgia Tech, previously the second-ranked team nationally, dropped to No. 6 after losing to Clemson in the ACC title match, while Florida, California, Duke and Southern Cal round out the Top 10.
Ten of the ACC’s 12 teams are currently ranked within the ITA Top 75, with half of those schools – No. 6 Georgia Tech, No. 9 Duke, No. 12 UM, No. 13 Clemson, No. 14 North Carolina and No. 16 FSU – ranked within the Top 20.
Arkansas’ Aurelija Miseviciute is currently the No. 1 singles player nationally, while UCLA’s team of Riza Zalameda and Tracy Lin leads the doubles rankings.
The Hurricanes will find out their seeding in the 2008 NCAA Women’s Tennis Championships during the tournament’s selection show on Tuesday, April 29 at 2 p.m. on ESPNews. Regional play in for the championship is slated for the weekend of May 9-11.
