Hurricanes Advance in Women's Draw of ITA Summer Circuit

Aug. 12, 2008

Bloomington, Ind. – Top-seeded Laura Vallverdu and Michaela Kissell breezed through second round action on Tuesday, advancing to the next stage of women’s singles play at the ITA National Summer Championships in Bloomington, Ind.

Vallverdu, an All-American the last two seasons at the University of Miami, swept past Mallory Weber of Missouri in straight sets 6-2, 6-3 in second round play after receiving a bye for the opening round. Vallverdu will now take on Julie Voss of Ohio State Tuesday morning in a match scheduled for 8:30 am (CST).

Kissell, also earning a bye for the first round, cruised past opposing player Kelsey Kinnard of Xavier 6-0, 6-0. She advances to face Marissa Lambropoulos of Illinois on Tuesday at 8:30 am.

All told 14 of the top 16 women’s seeds advanced through the opening two rounds on Monday to Tuesday’s round of 32 in singles. The list includes second-seeded Chisako Sugiyama (Michigan) and #3 seed Kirsten Flower (Ohio State) advancing to the round of 32, while #4 seed Lindsay Burdette (Stanford) was upset by Jeremie Benjamin (Akron) in straight sets 6-4, 7-6.

The International Tennis Association (ITA) National Summer Championships presented by the United States Tennis Association (USTA) are the pinnacle of the ITA Collegiate Summer Circuit, which was played at 26 regional sites throughout the country in July.

The singles and doubles champions from the ITA National Summer Championships earn wild cards into the first national tournaments of the 2008-09 collegiate tennis season – the Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships in October. By earning All-American status last season, Vallverdu has already qualified for the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships which are scheduled to be held on Oct. 2-5 in Pacific Palisades, Calif.

For a complete Championship schedule and a list of past championships, you can log on to the official ITA website at www.itatennis.com.