No. 5 Miami Too Much for No. 54 Virginia Tech, 6-1
March 28, 2009
Box Score | Box Score in PDF Format 
Blacksburg, Va. – The No. 5 Miami Hurricanes (17-3, 6-1 ACC) continued their winning streak to six matches on Saturday, taking a 6-1 decision over the No. 54 Virginia Tech Hokies (10-7, 1-5 ACC) in an ACC women’s tennis matchup at the Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center in Blacksburg, Va.
“The match was moved indoors because of rain,” stated UM head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews. “I think the girls responded well with the quicker game and the lighting, especially with not having any practice time indoors, and I thought they played well.”
Miami looked as impressive as their newfound ranking on Saturday afternoon, cracking the Top 5 for the first time this season earlier in the week. The Hurricanes collected the doubles point to open the match with two-of-three doubles positions collecting wins for the Paige Yaroshuk-Tews led squad. UM took wins at the first and second slots.
The doubles matches went in order, 1-2-3, with the 33rd-ranked team in the nation comprised of UM’s Michaela Kissell and Laura Vallverdu stepping off the court first with an 8-3 victory over Virginia Tech’s Jessica Brouwer and Holly Johnson at the top spot.
That was followed by Julia Cohen and Bianca Eichkorn teaming for their sixth consecutive win, as the duo collected an 8-4 victory over the Hokies’ Inga Beermann and Martha Blakely at the second spot. Virginia Tech took the third position with Yasmin Hamza and Abbey Walker picking up an 8-4 win over Miami’s team of Gabriela Mejia and Claudia Wasilewski.
In singles play, the Hokies were able to grab a win at the fifth position, but it was all Hurricanes in the other five slots.
UM sophomore Michaela Kissell (No. 50) started things off with a 6-2, 6-1 triumph over Martha Blakely in flight three, while classmate Bianca Eichkorn (No. 40) collected a 6-1, 7-5 win over Yasmin Hamza in the fourth position. Kissell improves to 28-7 on the campaign, and 9-1 in her last 10 outings.
For Eichkorn (31-6), today marked her 31st victory of the season, making her just the 12th Hurricane player in UM history to amass 31-or more wins in a single season. She joins current two-time All-American junior Laura Vallverdu as the only other player on this year’s team to have done so, with Vallverdu accomplishing the feat during the 2007 and ’08 seasons. For head coach Yaroshuk-Tews, this now marks the ninth player she’s coached that has accomplished the feat in the list of 12 all-time at UM.
The match was eventually clinched with UM sophomore Julia Cohen (No. 6) taking a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Inga Beermann at the No. 1 singles spot. Cohen (23-4) continues her impressive winning streak to 11 matches, while staying perfect in ACC play at 7-0.
Miami continued to score valuable team points as junior Claudia Wasilewski (19-9) held on for a 6-3, 1-6, 1-0(4) victory over Holly Johnson at the sixth slot. Wasilewski is now just one win shy of collecting back-to-back 20-win seasons as a Hurricane.
The final Hurricanes point came courtesy Laura Vallverdu (No. 24) rallying for a 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 triumph over Jessica Brouwer at the second position. In the process, Vallverdu (18-7) won her second consecutive match, and improved to 8-2 in her last 10 matches.
The final match of the day came with the Hokies taking a win at the fifth slot as Courtney Rauscher collected a come-from-behind 3-6, 6-2, 1-0(3) win over the `Canes Gabriela Mejia.
Miami will wrap up its Virginia road stretch tomorrow when they take on the No. 22 Virginia Cavaliers in Charlottesville at 11 a.m. The match will mark the 13th of the year against a Top 25 program.
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.
