No. 5 Miami Overpowers NC State, 7-0
April 3, 2009
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Coral Gables, Fla. – The No. 5 Miami Hurricanes (19-3, 8-1 ACC) took a complete-match sweep of NC State (4-14, 1-7 ACC) at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center on Friday afternoon in an ACC women’s tennis match played in Coral Gables, Fla. The `Canes have now won eight matches in a row dating back to Mar. 8 at Georgia Tech.
Miami took control early sweeping the doubles matches with 8-1 scores across.
The UM team of Gabriela Mejia and Claudia Wasilewski walked off first on the strength of an 8-1 triumph over NC State’s Pender Sessoms and Jackie Ussery in flight three doubles. That was followed up with the second doubles’ 8-1 win, using the 47th-ranked team of Julia Cohen and Bianca Eichkorn, to down the Wolfpack combo of Daria Petrovic and Diana Mortlock.
The final doubles match was the 8-1 win for the 15th-ranked team of Michaela Kissell and Laura Vallverdu at the No. 1 doubles slot, defeating NC State’s 41st-ranked team of Berkeley Brock and Lenka Hojckova.
The `Canes took all six matches in singles play, dropping just a single set throughout.
UM junior Claudia Wasilewski started things off with a 6-0, 6-0 victory at the sixth position over NC State’s Jackie Ussery. For Wasilewski, it was the first flawless victory of the year for the Boulogne, France native. Wasilewski also claimed back-to-back 20-win seasons after picking up 22 victories a year ago.
Sophomore Julia Cohen, earning her highest ranking of the year a No. 4 this week, stepped off the court next with her 6-0, 6-1 win at the top singles spot against NC State’s Lenka Hojckova (No. 104). Cohen stretches her winning streak to 13 matches while collecting her eighth consecutive straight-set victory.
UM clinched the match on the strength of freshman Gabriela Mejia claiming a 6-1, 6-0 win at the fifth spot, defeating Pender Sessoms of the Wolfpack. That was followed by No. 27 Bianca Eichkorn earning a 6-2, 6-0 defeat of NC State’s Diana Mortlock at the fourth slot.
The Hurricane stretched the match advantage out to 6-0 when No. 51 Michaela Kissell claimed a three-set win (6-0, 2-6, 10-4) at the third position against Daria Petrovic. Kissell never trailed in the tie-break set, running out to a 4-1 advantage from the start. Petrovic bounced back to make it 5-3, before Kissell then stretched the advantage to 8-4–claiming the last two points to close the match.
With the win today, Kissell earned her 30th win of the season, and became the second Hurricanes performer this year to register 30 wins on the campaign.
Miami shut the door on the seventh shutout of the season–the second against an ACC opponent, when junior Laura Vallverdu (No. 22) fought-off No. 113 Berkeley Brock of NC State in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2. Vallverdu claimed her 20th win of the season, and etched her name in the UM history books with three consecutive 20-win seasons as a Hurricane.
The Hurricanes return home on Sunday, Apr. 5 hosting 34th-ranked Wake Forest to the Neil Schiff Tennis Center at noon. The match will serve as the last home match of the 2009 regular season for UM. Admission to the event is free.
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.
