Women's Tennis Moves up to 10th in Campbell/ITA Rankings
Feb. 19, 2009
Skillman, N.J. – Holding an 8-1 overall record with five wins against Top 75 schools, the University of Miami women’s tennis team vaulted to 10th place this week in the inaugural Campbell/ITA National Rankings released by the ITA Thursday afternoon.
After defeating two ranked teams last weekend, including a 5-1 upset of then #5 Stanford, the Hurricanes leaped from 15th into the Top 10 this week. Miami’s only loss on the year occurred at the hands of top-ranked Northwestern last weekend during the ITA National Indoor Team Tournament in Madison, Wisconsin.
For the singles and doubles rankings, there was plenty of movement for the `Canes as well as the rest of the nation.
On the doubles side, the team of Laura Vallverdu and Michaela Kissell dropped to No. 30 nationally–though not playing together thus far in the spring campaign. Meanwhile, the dominating sophomore duo of Kissell and Bianca Eichkorn, currently holding an overall mark of 10-2 on the campaign, fell to No. 43.
The singles side showed plenty of movement, especially in the form of two-time All-America performer junior Laura Vallverdu. The Valencia, Venezuela native, entering the year ranked No. 114 in the preseason polls, made the biggest leap up to No. 34 after amassing a record of 8-1 in the spring (10-4 overall). Most recently she downed Lindsay Burdette (No. 97) of #5 Stanford at the ITA National Indoor Team Tournament. Her only loss of the spring came at the hands of 28th-ranked Georgia Rose (Northwestern).
Bianca Eichkorn, ranked 20th in the initial preseason poll, fell to No. 51 after dropping a pair of matches thus far in the spring. She stands at 22-5 on the year and 7-2 in dual match play. Her most recent victory gave her a spot on the all-time UM wins list with 51 career wins under her belt.
The highest ranked preseason player for UM was sophomore Julia Cohen, formerly ranked No. 8, who slid a few spots to No. 20 this week, but still boasts a spring record of 6-2. She is 12-4 overall after dropping a pair of matches in the ITA National Indoor Team Tournament to top-ranked Maria Mosolova (Northwestern) and 26th-ranked Hilary Barte (Stanford) last weekend in Madison, Wis.
The only other Hurricanes student-athlete present in the rankings is sophomore Michaela Kissell who enters the charts at No. 60. Kissell is riding a career-high tying 12-match winning streak while being the only UM player unbeaten in the spring at 9-0. Currently, Kissell sits at 19-5 for the season.
UM will now board a plane tomorrow morning headed for the Greater-Dallas Metropolitan Area in Texas where they will meet the No. 7 Baylor Bears (Feb. 21) and the No. 21 TCU Horned Frogs (Feb. 22). Meanwhile, UM moved up to 10th in the latest Campbell/ITA College Tennis Rankings released Thursday afternoon.
For more information on University of Miami women’s tennis, please log on to www.hurricanesports.com. After browsing to the women’s tennis home page, you will find the latest news, stats and match notes pertaining to the Hurricanes women’s tennis program.
For more information on the ITA, please locate your internet browser to www.ITAtennis.com.
