No. 6 Miami Women Cruise Past Boston College, 6-1
March 5, 2009
Coral Gables, Fla. – No. 6 Miami (11-2, 1-0 ACC) claimed the doubles point and picked up singles wins from Julia Cohen, Laura Vallverdu, Michaela Kissell, Gabriela Mejia and Claudia Wasilewski to knock-off No. 58 Boston College (4-4, 1-2 ACC) by a score of 6-1 in ACC women’s tennis action Thursday morning at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center in Coral Gables, Fla.
The doubles point was won by Miami as they took the early 1-0 lead in the match.
UM head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews paired the No. 32 ranked duo of Michaela Kissell and Laura Vallverdu together for the first time this season at the No. 1 doubles spot. They easily defeated Boston College’s Lauren Cash and Alina Sullivan, 8-1. Boston College fought back to claim the third spot with Katarina Gajic and Jacqueline Mabatah downing UM’s Julia Cohen and Claudia Wasilewski, 8-6.
In the second spot, BC used Katharine Attwell and Lana Krosnopolsky against Miami’s team of Bianca Eichkorn and Gabriela Mejia. BC took the early 3-1 advantage before Miami bounced back to make it 3-2. Following a Game-15 win by the Eagles, the Hurricanes furiously rallied to win the next four consecutive games in order to move in front for the first time since it was 1-0.
When leading 6-4, UM stormed back from trailing Love-40 to make it deuce through two advantages for the Eagles before stumbling, bringing the Eagles to within 6-5 on the set. UM would win the next two games and take the set, 8-5 … giving the `Canes the win at doubles.
In singles play, No. 63 Michaela Kissell (22-6) won her third-straight match with a straight-set 6-1, 6-0 defeat of BC’s Katarina Gajic at the No. 3 singles spot. Two-time All-America performer Laura Vallverdu (13-5), ranked No. 39 in the country, followed that up with an impressive 6-1, 6-1 straight-set win of her own at the second slot, defeating the Eagles’ Lauren Cash. Cash, which was previously ranked by the ITA, fell out of this week’s poll along with teammate Krosnopolsky.
Sophomore Julia Cohen (16-4), moving up to No. 13 in this week’s Campbell’s/ITA singles poll, made it three consecutive straight-set wins for the Hurricanes in order to clinch the match-deciding point on the strength of her 6-3, 6-2 win over Lana Krosnopolsky at the top position. Cohen has now won her last four matches for the Orange and Green.
Miami continued their domination with freshman Gabriela Mejia (11-9) collecting yet another straight-set win for UM with a convincing 6-4, 6-0 win over BC’s Katharine Attwell. Junior Claudia Wasilewski (14-7) had a tough match against Alina Sullivan at the No. 5 singles position. She had to use a 7-6(7-3), 7-5 line to defeat Sullivan, claiming her third-straight win of the spring.
Boston College would avoid the shutout at the No. 6 spot when Brittany Delaney downed UM’s Alessa Waibel (5-10) in a three-set affair, 6-2, 4-6, 10-4.
Miami now prepares for one of their biggest road trips of the ACC season as they venture to No. 8 Georgia Tech (Mar. 7) and No. 9 Clemson (Mar. 8). Both matches are slated for noon contests in Atlanta, Ga., and Clemson, S.C.
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.
