No. 8 Miami Welcomes No. 7 Duke in ACC Women's Showdown
March 21, 2009
Coral Gables, Fla. – Set for their third match in five days, the No. 8 Miami Hurricanes women’s tennis team welcomes the No. 7 Duke Blue Devils to the Neil Schiff Tennis Center on Sunday, Mar. 22 at noon for an ACC showdown. The match will be streamed live via the internet by ACC Select.
Miami (15-3, 4-1 ACC) enters the contest having won four consecutive matches, three by a combined score of 20-1–including a 6-1 victory over No. 15 North Carolina in the last match on Friday. This will also be the Hurricanes’ 12th consecutive ranked opponent.
The Hurricanes have gotten solid play at the doubles position of late, taking the doubles point to begin the match in the last three contests. UM is led by the 33rd-ranked tandem of Laura Vallverdu and Michaela Kissell, owning a 3-1 record in conference play together on the year.
In singles play, the Hurricanes are looking as dominant as advertised in the preseason, winning 42 out of a possible 48 singles matches in their last eight contests. Four of those singles losses came in a 5-2 setback at No. 8 Clemson.
Julia Cohen (No. 6) is a big part of that number as she has rolled off eight-straight wins at the flight one singles spot for UM, while Bianca Eichkorn (No. 40) has been impressive winning four-straight matches at the No. 4 singles spot. Eichkorn has a team-leading 29-6 record on the campaign, sporting a 14-3 mark in the spring.
Also playing well are Laura Vallverdu (No. 24) and Michaela Kissell (No. 50). Kissell has won her last four matches for the Hurricanes, all in straight-set dominating fashion for the Paige Yaroshuk-Tews led squad.
Duke counters with a record of 11-2 on the year, while holding a 1-0 mark in Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) play, having defeated Florida State in their ACC-opener on Friday. They use an ACC-best five ranked singles players in the latest Campbell’s/ITA singles poll, led by Ellah Nze (No. 23). Also among the Top 50 for the Blue Devils are Reka Zsilinszka (No. 30) and Mallory Cecil (No. 31).
Four Hurricanes are ranked in the latest singles polls, including Cohen–winner of her last eight matches, jumping up to No. 6. She was previously ranked 13th for the past two weeks.
Duke leads the all-time series between the two schools by the slimmest of margins, 9-8, but it was Miami taking a hard-fought 4-3 win over the Blue Devils last year in Coral Gables. UM head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews is 5-2 all-time against Duke while at the helm in Coral Gables.
Already sitting as the winningest coach in UM women’s tennis history, Yaroshuk-Tews claimed her 150th career victory in Miami’s 6-1 win over UNC on Friday.
Live stats for the event will be available through the University of Miami athletic website by visiting www.hurricanesports.com. For information regarding watching the match through ACC Select, please visit www.ACCSelect.com.
