Women's Tennis Turns `Sweet' 16 at All-American Championships
Sept. 30, 2008
Pacific Palisades, Calif. – In a day to remember, University of Miami women’s tennis was explosive on the west coast Tuesday as three players–Julia Cohen, Bianca Eichkorn and Michaela Kissell all advanced to the Round of 16 in the Qualifying Round at this year’s Riviera/ITA All-American Championships at the Riviera Tennis Club.
UM head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews claimed the line of the day when speaking about the results at the end, “This is pretty amazing for us.” And that it was as three sophomore Hurricanes defeated a combined five Top 50 ranked opponents from around the country.
Already having cruised through to the qualifying rounds with three-straight wins in the pre-qualifying section, Miami’s Bianca Eichkorn was explosive once again on Tuesday with back-to-back wins against opponents from the ACC and Pac-10.
Eichkorn, ranked No. 109, started the bracket with a win over No. 28 Sasha Kulikova of Wake Forest. She defeated the Deacs’ Kulikova in straight-sets on scores of 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the Round of 32. Once there, Eichkorn faced Washington’s Venise Chan, ranked No. 28 and seeded fifth overall for the qualifying section of this year’s tournament.
She fought through Chan in three sets (6-2, 3-6, 6-3) advancing to the Round of 16 for qualifying on Wednesday.
Also playing well with an opening-round win was classmate Michaela Kissell, ranked No. 49 in the collegiate polls. She opened her tournament by collecting a 5-7, 7-6(5) 7-5 win over Pichitta Thongdach of Boise State. She returned later in the afternoon with a three-hour and 40 minute match against Yasmin Schnack of UCLA.
Kissell would prevail the victor with a three-set gem–6-3, 2-6, 6-2. Schnack was seeded 14th in the qualifying round, and sits at No. 35 in the preseason ITA rankings.
Making her debut for the Hurricanes was sophomore transfer Julia Cohen. Cohen was dominant in both matches on the day, showing just why she is ranked No. 25 in the preseason polls, as well as seeded No. 2 for the Qualifying Round.
Cohen made quick work of Ohio State’s Kirsten Flower in the opener, taking a straight-set 6-1, 6-2 win. Flower entered the field ranked No. 41. Cohen followed that up with another stirring victory over No. 46 Ela Kaluder of the University of Arkansas.
Cohen’s 7-5, 6-1 victory gave her the only back-to-back straight-set wins for the Orange and Green on the day.
All three `Canes will play one round tomorrow in order to try and advance to the main draw of this year’s event.
Eichkorn faces Yvette Hyndman (No. 33) of the University of Georgia in her match. Kissell takes on Tara Iyer of Duke University, ranked No. 60. And Cohen will face the winner of Christy Striplin (Georgia Tech) and Kristi Boxx (Ole Miss).
If they advance, the `Canes will travel to the Main Draw set to begin on Thursday, Oct. 2 with the action staying at the Riviera Tennis Club in Pacific Palisades.
Make sure to stay tuned to www.hurricanesports.com as we track the Hurricanes throughout the entire week, including the main draw of the singles and doubles competition which features two-time All-American Laura Vallverdu who begins her 2008-09 collegiate season ranked No. 14 in the preseason polls.
For more information on participating Hurricanes and the ITA Championships, please locate your internet browser to www.ITAtennis.com.
