Vallverdu Opens NCAA Championship Play Wednesday
May 20, 2008
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Coral Gables, Fla… University of Miami All-AmericanDaniel Vallverdu opens singles competition at the NCAA Men’s Tennis Championships on Wed., May 21, at the MichaelD.CaseTennisCenter in Tulsa, Okla. <?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>
Vallverdu (28-8), seeded fifth among the 64 singles competitors, is slated to face No. 25 Conor Pollock (22-14) of Texas A&M at 10 a.m. (CST) in Wednesday’s opening round. The winner of the Vallverdu/Pollock match advances to Thursday’s Round of 32 to take on the winner of the match between LSU’s 26th-ranked Michael Venus and host Tulsa’s 18th-ranked Arnau Brugues.
The third-seeded tandem of Vallverdu and freshman Carl Sundberg are among 32 duos scheduled to open NCAA doubles competition on Thursday in Tulsa. The UM pair (24-8) will square off versus TCU’s 50th-ranked Kriegler Brink and Cosmin Cotet (16-7). The winning duo advances to Friday’s Round of 16 to face the winner of the match between Ole Miss’ 21st-ranked Bram ten Berge/Matthias Wellerman and William & Mary’s 36th-ranked Alexandru Cojanu/Keziel Juneau.
Because of their seedings, both Vallverdu and Sundberg have already earned All-America recognition for this season – making Vallverdu just the third four-time All-American in UM history, while Sundberg earns his first All-America honors in his first collegiate season.
Vallverdu, who has gone 11-8 this season versus players in the NCAA singles field – accounting for all of his losses in 2007-08, has previously competed in both singles and doubles play at the NCAA Championship. He earned All-America honors in singles competition last season after advancing to the Round of 16, and picked up All-America honors in doubles play alongside former UM standout Luigi D’Agord as a freshman in 2005-06 after the tandem advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals.
Sundberg will be making his NCAA Championship debut as a freshman. Vallverdu was the last UM freshman to advance to NCAAs in his first season with the Hurricanes in 2005-06. The duo has put together a 9-4 mark versus pairs in the NCAA field.
