Women's Tennis Sends Two to National Indoor Championships
Nov. 5, 2008
Coral Gables, Fla. – Two-time All-American Laura Vallverdu and Michaela Kissell will represent the University of Miami women’s tennis team at the 2008 National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships taking place on Nov. 6-9. The University of Virginia is hosting the championships at the Boar’s Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, Va.
Vallverdu, a 5-foot-3 junior from Valencia, Venezuela, is participating in her second event of the year, and just her first since the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships in Pacific Palisades, Calif. back in late September/early October.
Vallverdu enters the tournament with a record of 2-1 on the year, and is ranked No. 14 in the ITA preseason polls. Last year, she finished the National Indoor Championships with a record of 1-1 after defeating Duke’s Reka Zsilinszka, but then falling to Georgia Tech’s Amanda McDowell.
Kissell, a 5-foot-8 sophomore from Hostetter, Pa., comes into the National Indoor Championships having won seven of her last 10 matches. Ranked No. 49 in the ITA preseason polls, she holds a record of 9-5 on the year thus far.
Vallverdu and Kissell will also be playing as doubles partners this weekend where they currently rank No. 15 in the preseason polls. The duo has a record of 2-1 on the year with their only appearance on the season coming at the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships. Vallverdu and Kissell captured a summer circuit title back in August, and look to keep their combination steady heading into Thursday and the following days.
This is the second of three national tournaments for singles and doubles administered by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) during the 2008-09 academic year. The participants of the 2008 championships included some of the best and brightest players in college tennis.
For the women, headlining the field is the ITA’s returning top-ranked player in Arkansas’ Aurelija Miseviciute, last year’s Riviera runner-up Ani Mijacika of Clemson and 2008 NCAA champion Amanda McDowell of Georgia Tech. Joining the top three seeds are 2008 Riviera/ITA All-American champ, Kelcy McKenna of Arizona State and runner-up, Fani Chichieva from Auburn. The doubles field includes two pairs of doubles teams from Fresno State in top-seeded Tinesta Rowe and Melanie Gloria as well as Anastasia Petukhova and Renata Kucerkova, finalists at this year’s All-American championship.
These ITA championships feature a 32-player singles field and 16-team doubles field for men and women, including: qualifiers from Wilson/ITA Regional Championships held across the country during October, the ITA National Small College champions, the winners of the D’Novo/ITA Men’s All-American Tennis Championships and Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships, and at-large and wild card selections made by the ITA National Tournament Committee. Overall, more than 10,000 players from nearly 600 schools participate annually in the Wilson/ITA Regional and National Intercollegiate Championships.
The championships will take place at the Boar’s Head Sports Club, which is recognized as one of the top 50 tennis resorts in the U.S, named VA club of the year in 2005, and received recognition from TennisResorts.com as one of the top 75 tennis resorts in the world. The BHSC boasts 10 Hartru outdoor courts, four outdoor hard courts and twelve state of the art indoor courts.
As the governing body of collegiate tennis the ITA promotes both the athletic and academic achievements of the collegiate tennis community. For complete results from this weekend’s action, please visit the official ITA website at www.itatennis.com.
Vallverdu and Kissell’s teammates will also be in action this weekend as the University of Miami hosts the UM Women’s Tennis Fall Invitational at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center in Coral Gables, Florida. The UM Women’s Tennis Fall Invitational runs from Nov. 7-9. Admission to the event is free.
