No. 15 Miami Shocks No. 5 Stanford, 5-1
Feb. 15, 2009
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Madison, Wis. – After collecting the doubles point, No. 15 Miami (8-1) took four-of-five singles points in order to upset No. 5 Stanford, 5-1, in the consolation round of the ITA Women’s Tennis National Team Indoor Tournament at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison Wisconsin. Miami finishes the weekend with an impressive 2-1 record, and defeats two ranked opponents.
UM, fresh off the wake of an impressive 7-0 sweep of host Wisconsin yesterday, was determined to play flawless tennis today … and that feat was nearly accomplished.
“Today, it was just an incredible team effort we gave all-around,” opened eighth-year head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews. “We had Alessa [Waibel] at number two doubles, and she played an impressive match for us. We mixed around doubles and got off to a good start.”
Stanford (5-2) started off the day with a quick 8-1 victory at the first doubles slot, as the Cardinal’s Hilary Barte and Lindsay Burdette, ranked No. 41, downed Miami’s Julia Cohen and Laura Vallverdu. That, however, would be the end of the Stanford’s triumphs on the day.
With Paige Yaroshuk-Tews doing some different things to the doubles lineups at the No. 2 and 3 spot, the Hurricanes would simply have to trust their leader of eight years … knowing she was doing the right thing.
“We decided to make the change at doubles during warm-ups,” expressed Yaroshuk-Tews. “We shook it up a bit, and the girls really believed and responded in the change. They played aggressive tennis, and they started off the match with good momentum. And that’s important when you’re playing a team like Stanford.”
Sophomore Michaela Kissell and freshman Alessa Waibel took the court together for the second time all year, first time in the spring, and collected their first win together courtesy an 8-5 defeat of Stanford’s Carolyn McVeigh and Jessica Nguyen at the No. 2 doubles position. Fellow Hurricanes Gabriela Mejia and Bianca Eichkorn teamed together for the first time this spring on their way to an 8-4 win at the No. 3 spot.
Miami entered the singles matches with a 1-0 advantage by taking two-of-three doubles matches.
In singles play, Miami’s near-perfect morning continued.
After being praised for her play a day earlier by Yaroshuk-Tews, freshman Mejia (8-9) took to the court again with determination and passion unbridled by her unfamiliarity with the indoor game. The Colombia native quickly dispatched the Cardinal’s Veronica Li on scores of 6-2, 6-2 at the five spot for the Orange and Green.
“I was pretty upset with [Gabriela] Mejia after the first day of tennis here,” stated Yaroshuk-Tews. “I asked her to play more aggressively, and just stick with her style of play, and to play her game. I thought she got away from that on the first day with being indoors. Yesterday and today, she got back to playing like she normally does with an outdoor style, and she really put on her hard hat and went to work. I mean, she finished her opponent fast too, and that’s important when playing a team of this level.”
Stanford would then cut into the lead, 2-1, with No. 26 Hilary Barte defeating No. 8 Julia Cohen at the first position, 6-0, 6-2. For Cohen, she has now dropped two of her last three matches–all against Top 30 opponents, dropping her record for the year to 12-4.
“Julia had a tough day today, but that’s not all do to her playing bad,” commented Yaroshuk-Tews. “I thought Julia played pretty good, but Barte may have played some of the best tennis I’ve seen her play. Julia was just outplayed today, but she still had her head up and went to other courts to cheer on her teammates. She stayed focused as part of the team, and I think that was just another reason as to why we played better as a team as the weekend progressed.”
Miami answered right back with No. 114 Laura Vallverdu (10-4) playing in the third position for just the second time in her Hurricanes career–the first since 2006-07 as a freshman. The Venezuelan answered the challenge laid before her by Yaroshuk-Tews with a hard-fought 7-6(5), 6-4 straight-set win over No. 97 Lindsay Burdette.
The match-clinching point would come from No. 50 Michaela Kissell of the Orange and Green, as she continued her dominant tennis play of late with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Jessica Nguyen at the second position. For Kissell, the Pennsylvania native has now won 12 consecutive matches dating back to the fall, and throws her singles record for the year up to a career-best 19-5 mark.
“We were watching a lot of [Lindsay] Burdette, and Michaela and Laura [Vallverdu] are both playing good tennis right now,” shared Yaroshuk-Tews. “But we felt that Kissell matched up well with [Jessica] Nguyen, and decided to give her a shot at number two singles. We also thought Vallverdu matched up well with Burdette, and thought she could get it done at number three. Kissell went out against Nguyen, and she played her to a `tee.’ Michaela was really important here as a freshman, and as a sophomore, I think she’s having one of the more successful years that we’ve had in her class.”
Play continued at the No. 4 singles position with Tengen, Germany’s Bianca Eichkorn, ranked No. 20, defeating Stanford’s Carolyn McVeigh in straight-sets (6-4, 6-4). Eichkorn has run her record for the year to 22-5, while also amassing an 8-2 record in her last 10 matches.
Junior Claudia Wasilewski’s match was suspended, agreed upon by both coaches, at the six spot as she was leading Stanford’s Courtney Clayton in the second set, 1-0. Wasilewski took the opening set, 6-2.
The `Canes will now return to South Florida in order to rest and get back to practice before embarking upon yet another grueling road stretch at Baylor (Feb. 21) and TCU (Feb. 22) in their Texas road swing. Baylor is currently ranked fourth in the country, while TCU holds the No. 21 spot.
“We still have a long road ahead of us,” stated Yaroshuk-Tews when commenting on where this team can go after this upset today. “We leave next Friday for Baylor and TCU, and we’ve got to get rested; and get some practice in; and get ready to play more good tennis. I told the girls that this was our toughest stretch of the year, and we’ve got to weather the storm. We have to keep our game face on and keep the success going.”
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