Women's Tennis Continues at All-American Championships

Sept. 28, 2008

Pre-Qualifying Singles Bracket | Pre-Qualifying Doubles Bracket

Malibu, Calif. – The University of Miami women’s tennis duo of Bianca Eichkorn and Gabriela Mejia continued their dominant play at the Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships on Sunday cruising into the quarterfinals of the Pre-Qualifying Doubles draw at Pepperdine University.

Eichkorn and Mejia defeated the team of Estefania Balda and Laurianne Henry (Clemson), 8-2 in the second round of play. This is the first weekend the two [Eichkorn/Mejia] have teamed up since the start of the year. Already, they have collected a 2-0 mark against great competition out on the west coast, including a win today over an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent.

They advance to the quarterfinal round on Monday where they will meet the third-seeded team from the University of Southern California–Alison Ramos and Maria Sanchez. The Women of Troy earned a trip to the quarterfinals after prevailing over teams from Arkansas (Anouk Tigu / Nanar Airapetian) and Illinois (Megan Fudge / Leigh Finnegan).

In singles play, Hurricanes’ sophomore Bianca Eichkorn, ranked No. 109 in the preseason ITA polls, continued her blistering play of late with a three-set win against Renata Kucerkova of Fresno State (6-2, 4-6, 6-3). That allows the 5-foot-6, Tengen, Germany native to advance to the quarterfinals of the Pre-Qualifying Singles competition.

Once there, she will face-off against Boise State’s Pichitta Thongdach. The match is schedule to be held on Monday with a time to be determined later this evening.

Eichkorn has now won six consecutive matches since her season-opening loss to No. 84 Beier Ko (Harvard) in the first round of the 16th Annual William & Mary Invitational last weekend in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Her career-high is a 10-match win streak during the 2008 campaign where she collected victories from Mar. 22 all the way until a loss in the NCAA Tournament (May 15) against Jana Bielikova of Baylor University.

For more information on participating Hurricanes and the ITA Championships, please locate your internet browser to www.ITAtennis.com.