April 28, 2008

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami women’s tennis team remained the No. 12 team nationally Monday in the last Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings released prior to team selections for the 2008 NCAA Division I Women’s Tennis Championships. The Hurricanes (15-5), winners of seven of their last eight dual matches, will be looking to extend their streak to four straight seasons of hosting one of 16 NCAA Regionals when the 64-team field is announced during the 2 p.m. hour Tuesday on ESPNews.

For the second week in a row, sophomore All-American Laura Vallverdu ranked among the nation’s Top 20 in both singles and doubles play, remaining No. 19 in singles play and No. 20 in doubles with teammate Romy Farah. Vallverdu will enter the first round of the NCAA Championship next weekend having won 14 of her last 16 matches in the No. 1 singles position and six of her last seven with Farah in the No. 1 doubles spot.

Farah and freshman Michaela Kissell also remained in the singles rankings this week, with Kissell coming in at No. 64 and Farah at No. 100.

Ten of the ACC’s 12 teams are currently ranked within the ITA Top 60, with half of those schools – No. 3 Georgia Tech, No. 9 Duke, No. 12 UM, No. 13 Clemson, No. 14 North Carolina and No. 15 FSU – ranked within the Top 15.

Each of the last three seasons UM has hosted a regional, the Hurricanes ranked inside the ITA Top 10 when the brackets were announced, coming in ninth in 2005 and 2007 and seventh in 2006 — the year the team reached the NCAA Final. The last year UM didn’t host a regional -2004 — the team ranked No. 23 when the seedings were determined.

The first two rounds of the championship are slated for the weekend of May 9-11 on campus sites with the team and individual finals scheduled for May 15-26 in Tulsa, Okla.

Individuals selected to compete in the singles and doubles championships will be announced by 6 p.m. on Wed., April 30, via the NCAA websites (www.NCAA.com and www.NCAA.org).