No. 15 Miami Bounces Back Against Wisconsin, 7-0
Feb. 14, 2009
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Madison, Wis. – The 15th-ranked Miami Hurricanes picked up two-of-three doubles matches and then used straight-set wins across the board in singles play, highlighted by Laura Vallverdu and Bianca Eichkorn, to breeze through host University of Wisconsin, 7-0, in the consolation bracket of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships inside Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin.
The Hurricanes (7-1) opened the doubles session with wins at the first and second position, including an impressive 8-2 showing for UM’s 15th-ranked duo of sophomores Bianca Eichkorn and Michaela Kissell, as they downed Wisconsin’s (2-5) team of Jessica Seyferth and Aleksandra Markovic and the second position. The UM duo upped their record to 10-2 on the campaign, a day after suffering their first setback of the spring season to Northwestern.
Wisconsin (2-5) was off-balance all day as Miami avoids dropping consecutive matches–and has not done so since 2007 against #21 Duke (Apr. 6) and #21 North Carolina (Apr. 7), respectively.
“I thought the team bounced back well today, and it’s never easy going from the number one [#1] team in the nation to the 68th-ranked [#68] team in the country overnight,” expressed Paige Yaroshuk-Tews. “I think Wisconsin is a much better team than #68 in the country. But, overall, it’s a nice sandwich match between two top programs as we get ready for Stanford tomorrow.”
UM also had a strong comeback at the first position by the team of Laura Vallverdu and Julia Cohen, cruising their way to a decisive 8-2 decision over Wisconsin’s Elizabeth Carpenter and Angela Chupa.
Wisconsin, refusing to go away, did muster up a win at the No. 3 position as the Badgers used an 8-6 win with their duo of Katya Mirnova and Dana Larsen to defeat Miami’s freshmen tandem of Gabriela Mejia and Alessa Waibel.
Holding the 1-0 advantage going into singles competition, Miami simply collected their thoughts and pushed yesterday’s loss easily to the back of their mind, just focusing on the task at hand in front of the largest road crowd of the year. It was something Miami head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews knew she would have to get her team to focus on as large opposing crowds at TCU and Baylor loom in the not-too-distant future for the `Canes.
“I think the girls got used to the elements a little bit today, and we’re looking forward to playing good tennis tomorrow,” stated Yaroshuk-Tews.
The Orange and Green went on to clinch the match point with consecutive wins at the second, fourth and sixth positions, respectively. UM’s Laura Vallverdu (9-4), currently ranked seventh in the South Region, used a decisive 6-4, 6-2 line to defeat Wisconsin’s Emese Kardhordo at the second position. Miami’s Bianca Eichkorn (21-5), ranked No. 20 in the country, stretched the Orange and Green lead out to 3-0 on the strength of a 6-4, 6-3 win over Jessica Seyferth at the fourth position.
And with UM junior Claudia Wasilewski’s (11-6) win over Aleksandra Markovic (7-5, 6-2) at the six slot, Miami moved ahead for the match-clinching point, 4-0, en route to the next round of the consolation bracket.
The match wasn’t over as far as points, however, as No. 50 Michaela Kissell (18-5) matched her winning total from a year ago on the strength of an impressive 6-2, 6-3 victory over Wisconsin’s Katya Mirnova at the third position. Standing as yesterday’s only victor for UM in singles play, it was the Hostetter, Pennsylvania native’s eighth consecutive straight-set win stretching back to the fall season.
At the No. 5 position, freshman Gabriela Mejia (7-9) evened her record at 2-2 in the spring with a hard-fought 6-3, 6-3 win over Angela Chupa of the Badgers. The match was closed out for good when sophomore Julia Cohen (12-3) put the finishing touches on a straight-set victory (6-2, 6-3) at the first spot for Miami over Wisconsin’s Elizabeth Carpenter.
“I was really happy with everyone today, but Gabriela Mejia really stood out in my mind,” commented Yaroshuk-Tews. “These conditions aren’t the best for her because she’s not used to playing indoors, and it took her a while to get comfortable with the environment and the conditions of indoor tennis. But today she really stuck with her game from start to finish, and she did a great job of finally getting acclimated to the environment of being indoors. She’s going to play a huge role in the success of this team, and I just hope she continues to work hard.”
Miami resumes play in this year’s tournament tomorrow against fifth-ranked Stanford who edged North Carolina, 4-3, in one of the best matches on the weekend by two competitors. A start time for tomorrow’s Hurricanes vs. Cardinal match has yet to be determined.
“Tomorrow we’ve just got to play aggressive tennis because the better teams that you play, the less opportunity [at mistakes] you have,” continued Yaroshuk-Tews. “We’re not going to be tentative, and we’re going to go after our shots and believe in our shots against a good Stanford team. We have to believe that we are as good as Stanford, and just compete hard and take our chances.”
Wisconsin, on the other hand, has been eliminated from this year’s tournament, bowing out with a 0-2 record on the weekend.
Times for all consolation bracket matches will be posted to the ITA website later tonight by logging on to www.itatennis.com.
