No. 8 Hurricanes Too Much for No. 15 UNC, 6-1
March 20, 2009
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Coral Gables, Fla. – Eighth-year head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews claimed her 150th career victory on Friday as the No. 8 Miami Hurricanes (15-3, 4-1 ACC) downed the No. 15 North Carolina Tar Heels (12-5, 2-1 ACC) by a count of 6-1 in an ACC women’s tennis matchup at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center in Coral Gables, Fla.
Yaroshuk-Tews is already the winningest coach in school history for women’s tennis, but she has now added another feat to the list–collecting her 150th career victory as a head coach. For the Hurricanes, today marked their third consecutive win over a Top 25 program, while dropping just a single match in singles flights during that span.
“I’m just real happy with the team’s focus and determination today,” expressed Yaroshuk-Tews. “I asked them to go out in a more positive and feisty manner in doubles, and they did that.”
Miami opened the match clinching the doubles point for the third-straight match, but today it came unconventionally for the Hurricanes.
UM took the No. 2 doubles flight with the team of Julia Cohen and Bianca Eichkorn winning their third-straight match together, taking an 8-5 decision over Austin Smith and Jelena Durisic.
The match was toe-to-toe until UNC broke the Hurricanes’ serve to take a 5-4 lead. That’s when the favor was returned by UM, as Cohen and Eichkorn collected the final four games of the match to earn the win.
UM’s No. 1 doubles squad of Michaela Kissell and Laura Vallverdu – ranked No. 33 in the nation, jumped on top of UNC’s 63rd-ranked team of Sanaz Marand and Katrina Tsang, 3-1. But the Tar Heels’ duo went on a feverish comeback from that point, winning seven consecutive games to earn the 8-3 upset victory.
The doubles point was in limbo as the No. 3 flight was the deciding factor with Miami’s Gabriela Mejia and Claudia Wasilewski earning an 8-3 win over Meg Fanjoy and Laura Reichert. The win for Mejia and Wasilewski was their first since a victory over UCF back on Feb. 8. The Hurricanes had lost eight-straight matches at the No. 3 doubles spot until the win today.
“It’s nice to see No. 3 doubles pull together and get a win today,” stated Yaroshuk-Tews. “They really played well with No. 1 not having their best match out there.”
With UM leading 1-0 after the doubles matches, the singles matches were set to take stage.
After falling behind 4-2 in the first set of flight one singles, sixth-ranked Julia Cohen went on a tear down the stretch, winning the next four consecutive games to down UNC’s 53rd-ranked Sanaz Marand. Cohen wasted little time in the second set, earning the 6-1 win with a dominating performance. She ended the match with a 6-4, 6-1 line–her fourth straight-set win in as many matches.
For Cohen, she has won eight consecutive matches for the `Canes, seven against nationally ranked opponents.
Miami turned up the heat a little more when the `Canes took the No. 4 singles point as No. 50 Michaela Kissell trailed for a total of one point (2-1) in the first set, only to rally for another brilliant performance in singles play. She earned her fourth consecutive win (three in two sets) with the strength of a 6-3, 6-2 line over the Tar Heels’ Jelena Durisic.
In her four-match win streak, Kissell has never dropped more than three games in a single set at any point.
UM clinched the match point at the No. 4 position in singles play when No. 40 Bianca Eichkorn added to her winning streak with a 6-0, 6-2 defeat of UNC’s Austin Smith. The Tengen, Germany native never trailed in the match, and earned her team-leading 29th win of the year in the process–already tying her wins total from a season ago.
When asked if today’s win was a statement for UM, Yaroshuk-Tews seemed to think of it a different way.
“I don’t think of this win as a statement,” exclaimed Yaroshuk-Tews. “I think it’s simply the girls are finally starting to buy into the system we are teaching them. Our focus isn’t to dominate opponents every time. I think everyone is finally accepting the fact that they have to be accountable for their point at their individual position.”
UM stretched the lead out to 5-0 with freshman Gabriela Mejia at the fifth spot, as she fought past North Carolina’s Jocelyn Ffriend, using a 6-1, 7-5 line. Mejia appeared to be cruising to her third-straight win after taking the 6-1 score in the first set, but UNC’s Ffriend was determined in the second set.
Ffriend opened the set, 1-0, before Mejia collected three wins to move out in front, 3-1. Ffriend then broke Mejia’s serve to knot the match at 3-3, followed by 4-4, and eventually 5-5. But Mejia finally broke Ffriend’s serve to take a 6-5 lead in the set, finally closing out the match with back-to-back furious rallies by both competitors, allowing Mejia to earn the 7-5 set victory.
UM’s advantage swelled to 6-0 as the Hurricanes’ Claudia Wasilewski took a 6-2, 6-2 win over UNC’s Laura Reichert at the sixth spot. Wasilewski trailed early in both sets before battling back each time to earn wins. In fact, Wasilewski stood tied with Reichert twice at 2-2 in the first and second set, respectively, before embarking on a four-game winning streak each time to earn the mirror scores.
The lone win of the day for the Tar Heels came in flight two singles when No. 93 Katrina Tsang outlasted No. 24 Laura Vallverdu (6-1, 4-6, 10-6) in one of the most energizing matches of the day.
The match opened with Tsang looking impressive to blow by Vallverdu, 6-1, in the opener. That’s when Vallverdu dug deep to get herself right back into the match, jumping to a 5-1 advantage in the second set.
Tang battled back to make it 5-4, but Vallverdu held serve in the final game to send the match into a tie-break with her 6-4 second-set win.
In the third set tie-break, Tsang marched out to a 4-0 advantage before Vallverdu raced back to make it 4-2. Tsang then stretched her lead to 8-4, but Vallverdu fought right back to cut the Tar Heels’ lead at 8-6. Tsang then closed out the match with the final two points, 10-6.
The Hurricanes will host the final match of their four-match home stand on Sunday, Mar. 22, welcoming the seventh-ranked Duke University Blue Devils to the Neil Schiff Tennis Center at noon. Admission to the event is free.
“Duke is going to be a great test,” admits Yaroshuk-Tews. “As a coach, this is why you get up and go to work each day. This is why the girls are in the weight room each day. It’s to play against a team like Duke.”
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.
