No. 6 Miami Falls at No. 8 Georgia Tech, 5-2
March 7, 2009
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Atlanta, Ga. – The No. 6 Miami Hurricanes had their three-match winning streak snapped on Saturday afternoon as No. 8 Georgia Tech took a 5-2 decision in an Atlantic Coast Conference women’s tennis contest played at the Bill Moore Tennis Center in Atlanta, Ga. The Hurricanes got singles wins from Julia Cohen (No. 13) and Gabriela Mejia to collect their only points of the match.
Miami (11-3, 1-1 ACC) was unable to sustain positive energy enforced right from the start as the 32nd-ranked doubles tandem of Michaela Kissell and Laura Vallverdu downed Georgia Tech’s Irina Falconi and Sasha Krupina, 8-0. Georgia Tech (6-4, 1-1 ACC) immediately responded with wins at the second and third doubles slots to earn the doubles point.
Despite the doubles loss, the UM combination of Julia Cohen and Bianca Eichkorn played well at the No. 2 position in a tough 8-6 setback at the hands of Georgia Tech’s 16th-ranked team of Noelle Hickey and Christy Striplin.
The Yellow Jackets extended their lead in singles play with a straight-set win at the No. 2 singles spot as Noelle Hickey (No. 53) defeated UM’s Laura Vallverdu (No. 39) on a 7-5, 6-3 line. That was followed by a victory at the six spot with Lynn Blau taking a three-set thriller over Miami junior Claudia Wasilewski on scores of 2-6, 6-4, 6-1.
Georgia Tech led 3-0 in the match before the much-anticipated meeting between Top 15 opponents as Miami’s Julia Cohen (No. 13) stepped on the court with Georgia Tech’s Irina Falconi (No. 5). The showdown was every bit as exciting as advertised with Falconi opening up the match with a 7-5 win in the first set.
Cohen, a native of Philadelphia, Pa., responded in kind to claim the next two sets with relative ease, defeating her ACC counterpart, 6-3 and 6-1 in the last two sets. The overall line was 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 in favor of Cohen, who opens her ACC career with back-to-back wins.
The three-set victory for Cohen was also her first against a Top 5 opponent this year, and her fifth consecutive win of the spring–three against Top 60 foes, including a three-set win over No. 6 Nina Munch-Soegaard two weeks ago in Texas.
The Hurricanes would continue that successive tempo as freshman Gabriela Mejia stretched her winning streak on the year out to six matches on the strength of a 6-7, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Sasha Krupina at the five spot.
But the Rambling Wreck gathered themselves for consecutive three-set wins in thrilling fashion to claim the match victory.
No. 18 Amanda McDowell–last year’s NCAA Singles Champion, fought past Miami’s No. 63 Michaela Kissell in three–6-4, 3-6, 7-6(7-3). Meanwhile, teammate and 44th-ranked Christy Striplin rallied past No. 40 Bianca Eichkorn in three sets–2-6, 6-2, 7-6(7-4).
The loss for Eichkorn ended her previous five-match winning streak, as well as a four-match win streak against ranked opponents.
Miami will look to get back to the wins column tomorrow when they travel to Clemson for another Top 10 showdown with the Tigers entering Sunday’s match at No. 9 in the country. Miami leads the all-time series against the Tigers, 19-5.
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.
