Women's Tennis Opens Fall Season in Williamsburg
Sept. 18, 2008
Coral Gables, Fla. – The University of Miami women’s tennis team heads north this weekend to Williamsburg, Virginia to compete in the 16th Annual William & Mary Invitational hosted by the College of William & Mary on Sept. 19-21.
Sophomore Michaela Kissell, ranked #49 in the nation in the preseason polls takes part in Flight A competition. Also in Flight A is fellow Hurricane sophomore Bianca Eichkorn, ranked 109th in the country. Kissell faces Lana Krasnopolsky of Boston College in the opening round, while Eichkorn matches up against #84 Beier Ko of Harvard University.
Kissell is coming off a doubles championship victory in the ITA Summer Circuit alongside Laura Vallverdu. Vallverdu, entering the year ranked 14th in the nation, will not be participating this weekend. Also not participating this weekend will be newcomer Julia Cohen, a highly-anticipated transfer from the University of Florida, who begins the season ranked 25th in the country.
Meanwhile, freshman Gabriela Mejia starts her Hurricane career in Flight B where she will face off against William & Mary’s Klaudyna Kasztelaniec in the opening round. Classmate Alessa Waibel sits in Flight C where she’ll await Sally Wilkey of Elon University in the opening round. Also in Flight C is Claudia Wasilewski who will begin against ACC opponent Katarina Gajic of Boston College.
Fellow freshman Lauren Greco will compete in Flight D, and open her season against W&M’s Carmen Pop. Jenna Osborne will take part in Flight E where she meets Boston College’s Jackie Mabatah in her first action as a sophomore.
Four of the teams competing in this year’s William & Mary Invitational field finished last season among the top 35 in the country and played in the NCAA Tournament. Both Miami and Arkansas advanced to the round of 16 last season and finished the year ranked No. 12 and No. 14, respectively.
The W&M Tribe finished the spring of 2008 ranked 21st nationally, while Ohio State ended the season at No. 33. Seven ranked singles players will compete in the Flight A bracket at the W&M Invite. Aurelija Miseviciute of Arkansas–the top-ranked singles player in the country, is the event’s No. 1 seed followed by No. 46 Ela Kaluder of Arkansas, No. 49 Michaela Kissell, No. 84 Beier Ko of Harvard, No. 87 Ragini Acharya of W&M, No. 94 Katarina Zoricic of W&M and No. 109 Bianca Eichkorn.
Statistics and results will be available throughout the tournament by visiting the William & Mary athletic website at www.tribeathletics.com.
