Another Solid Day for Hurricanes at ITA Championships
Aug. 13, 2008
Bloomington, Ind. – University of Miami women’s tennis players Laura Vallverdu and Michaela Kissell dominated once again on Tuesday advancing to the next stage of both the singles and doubles draw at the ITA Summer Championships at the Indiana University Varsity Tennis Center.
Two-time All-American Vallverdu had an easy time with Ohio State’s Julie Voss in a 6-1, 6-1 victory. However, top-seeded Vallverdu will not continue on to the fourth round as she elected to take herself out of competition and focus strictly on doubles play with partner Kissell.
As for Kissell, the Hostetter, Pa. native had little trouble en route to a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Illinois’ Marissa Lambropoulos. Kissell will face Molly Scott (Dartmouth) on Wednesday at 9 a.m. CST.
In doubles play, the top-seeded duo of Kissell and Vallverdu defeated two teams Tuesday in order to advance to the semifinals of this year’s event. They knocked off Kinstler (USC) and Murphy (UCSB) in the second round–after earning a bye for the first round – with an 8-0 score. Then the duo had to fight past the team of Bigos and Welcher from Alabama with a 9-7 advantage.
Miami’s top-seeded Kissell and Vallverdu will headline Wednesday’s women’s doubles semifinals. They will face Ohio State’s Keesey and Kirsten Flower. The other semifinal has Michigan’s second-seeded Muresan and Sugiyama facing Ohio State’s Blackmore and Hubbs.
“It’s been great to get back on track alongside a teammate,” Vallverdu said. “Michaela is playing solid tennis and we’re getting along really well as doubles partners. We set out to win doubles and if we can make it happen, it should give us some confidence heading into the fall season.”
The 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 D’Novo Men’s and Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships in October.
More than 25,000 men and women have competed in circuit events since it began in 1993. The circuit is the brainchild of Indiana head women’s tennis coach Lin Loring and provides college tennis players the opportunity to compete in organized events virtually year round. It is made up of seven regional circuits (East, Southeast, Midwest, Central, Mountain, Southwest and West) and six of the seven regions consists of four consecutive tournaments played during the month of July, leading up to the ITA National Summer Championships. Play resumes Wednesday with the rounds of 16 and quarterfinals in singles and quarterfinals and semifinals of doubles.
This is the eighth straight year IU is serving as tournament host for the championships, which began in 1994.
For a complete Championship schedule and a list of past championships, you can log on to the official ITA website at www.ITAtennis.com.
