Laura Vallverdu To Face Stanford's Nguyen In NCAA First Round
May 20, 2008
TULSA, Okla. – University of Miami sophomore All-American Laura Vallverdu will begin singles competition at the 2008 NCAA Women’s Tennis Championship when she takes on Stanford’s Jessica Nguyen in the first round of play Wednesday at the University of Tulsa’s Michael D. Case Tennis Center. <?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>
Vallverdu (29-9) – currently ranked No. 19 by the ITA in singles competition – will face No. 13 Nguyen (28-9) at 12:30 p.m. EST with the winner moving on into Thursday’s second round to face whoever advances in the first round battle between No. 27 Katie Rybakova of Florida State and No. 49 Gabriela Niculescu of Southern Cal.
“Laura has been playing great tennis lately and I think it’s a positive that she’s starting off with such a strong opponent,” head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said. “Nguyen is extremely disciplined and a tough competitor, Lau should welcome the challenge. The NCAA individual event is about every match being a great one and seeing who is still willing to compete hard late in May.”
In addition to competing in the singles bracket, Vallverdu will also represent UM when she teams with senior Romy Farah when doubles play gets underway on Thursday. The pair – currently ranked No. 20 – will be facing Vanderbilt’s No. 21 duo of Amanda Taylor and Courtney Ulery at a time yet to be determined.
In singles play, Vallverdu comes in having won 16 of her last 18 matches overall and nine of 11 against No. 1 players in the ACC. Her 61 singles wins in her first two seasons at UM are the most in program history for a player through her freshman and sophomore seasons. She is also just one singles victory shy of becoming just the fourth player in school history to reach the 30-win mark in two different seasons.
The No. 20 team of Vallverdu and Farah has also played well down the stretch, winning 12 of their last 15 matches from the No. 1 doubles position. The pair is 17-6 overall together this season – including an 8-2 mark at No. 1 doubles in ACC play – and has three wins over teams currently ranked in the ITA Top 10.
The singles bracket is composed of the nation’s top 64 players while doubles play features the nation’s top 32 teams. Round of 16 play for both singles and doubles is slated for Friday, followed by quarterfinal play Saturday and semifinal play Sunday. The championship matches are slated to take place on Monday, May 26, the final day of the 2008 NCAA Championships.
All matches will be the best of three sets. Regular scoring and a 12-point tiebreaker at six games all will be used for all matches.
It is the second year in a row both Vallverdu (singles and doubles) and Farah (doubles) are competing in the individual portion of the NCAA Championships. Last season, Vallverdu fell to Catherine Newman of Vanderbilt, 6-4, 6-3 in the first round of NCAA singles play before dropping a 6-2, 6-2 doubles match with Audra Cohen to Stanford’s Anne Yelsey and Lindsday Burdette. Farah, playing doubles with Audrey Bañada, also lost her opening round doubles match, 6-4, 7-5, to Ana Cetnik and Anna Sydorska of TCU.
The team portion of UM’s season came to a close last week with a 4-1 loss to No. 5 Baylor in UM’s fourth NCAA Round of 16 appearance in the last five seasons.
For more information on the 2008 NCAA Women’s Tennis Singles and Doubles Championship, visit http://tulsahurricane.cstv.com/sports/m-tennis/spec-rel/tuls-08-w-tennis-central.html.
