May 15, 2009
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College Station, Texas – Sixth-seeded Miami (26-4) defeated defending national champion and No. 11 seed UCLA (19-7) by a count of 4-2 on Friday afternoon, advancing to the quarterfinals as part of the NCAA Women’s Tennis Championships held at the Georgia P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station, Texas. UM advances to the NCAA Quarterfinals for the seventh time in school history, and the fourth time in six years.
Miami fell behind early-on, dropping the doubles match in two-of-three positions. The third flight doubles squad of Claudia Wasilewski and Gabriela Mejia was downed by UCLA’s Ashley Joelson and Nina Pantic, 8-3. The Hurricanes came right back with a commanding 8-3 win at No. 2 doubles with the help of the 51st-ranked combo of Julia Cohen and Bianca Eichkorn taking down the Bruins’ 66th-ranked team of Carling Seguso and Stephanie Wetmore.
The deciding doubles point came down to the No. 1 position where Miami’s 19th-ranked team of Michaela Kissell and Laura Vallverdu were unable to sustain a 2-1 advantage in the match, falling behind 5-2 at a crucial point. UM fought back to make it 5-3, but UCLA took the next two games before Miami pulled to within 7-4. With UCLA serving for the match at 40-30, UM forced a deuce point that went back-and-forth until a service ace from the Bruins’ Schnack ended the match, 8-4–giving UCLA an important 1-0 lead heading into singles play.
Together in the spring, Eichkorn and Cohen are 14-2, while Vallverdu and Kissell fall to 17-7 on the year (14-4 in the spring).
In singles play, the Hurricanes used 24th-ranked Laura Vallverdu (27-7) to knot the match at 1-1 courtesy a 6-1, 6-1 straight-set win over the Bruins’ Andrea Remynse (No. 57) at the second slot. That was immediately followed by doubles partner and sophomore No. 49 Michaela Kissell (36-7) who was next off the court with her straight-set defeat of Nina Pantic at the fourth spot (6-2, 6-4).
Those wins edged UM out in front, 2-1.
“I thought the girls got off to a fairly good start even though doubles didn’t go our way,” stated UM head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews. “I was happy with their energy. They stayed calm, and we knew coming into today’s match that we needed to stay calm and be successful.”
Not long after Kissell’s win, it would be freshman Gabriela Mejia (22-13) leaping past Ashley Joelson in straight sets (6-1, 6-4). That allowed the Hurricanes a little breathing room with a 3-1 lead in the match.
“We’ve had some great battles, some great wars against (UCLA) in the past,” added Yaroshuk-Tews, a 1996 graduate of UCLA where she starred in tennis as a student-athlete. “They’re great people and good tennis players, and I want to beat them as bad as I want to beat any other team.”
Victory would be delayed a bit longer as No. 3 Julia Cohen (29-6) was defeated in straight-sets by No. 15 Yasmin Schnack at the top flight singles position. Schnack opened the match claiming a 6-1 win in the opening set. She came back to take a 6-4 win in the second set, earning the win and pulling the Bruins to within, 4-2 in the match.
The race was on at the No. 6 and No. 3 position for the defending national champs to try and crawl back into it.
Miami’s Bianca Eichkorn (38-7), ranked No. 31 in the latest Campbell’s/ITA singles poll, took her opening set against No. 114 Maya Johansson at the third slot, 7-5. But at the sixth position, it was Claudia Wasilewski (24-10) who fell in her opener to Carling Seguso, 6-3.
Wasilewski battled back to claim the second set, 6-3, knotting the match at a set apiece.
But all eyes were on the third court as Eichkorn led Johansson, 5-3, in the second set, while Wasilewski and Seguso went to a third set.
Eichkorn kept the momentum going in order to pull-out the final set, 6-3, and give UM a huge win. Wasilewski and Seguso were locked in a battle as the match was suspended at 3-3 in the third set, with Wasilewski leading 30-15 with serve.
“I try not to pay too much attention to the score,” said Eichkorn, who passed Megan Bradley’s junior season record for third place all-time at UM for wins in a single season. “The first time that I really noticed that it might come down to me was when (Gabriela Mejia) finished her singles match, and we had three points.”
With the win, the Hurricanes defeated the Bruins for the first time ever in an NCAA Tournament, improving to 1-2 all-time against the west coast team. The `Canes also improve to 6-1 all-time in the state of Texas in NCAA Tournament matches, but the first match ever away from the capital city of Austin.
UM also improves to 5-12 lifetime against Pac-10 teams in the NCAA Tournament.
“I really have to give it to that Miami team,” stated UCLA head coach Stella Sampras Webster. “They came out and played well, and played with a lot of heart.”
Miami will now face Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) rival Duke in the Quarterfinals on Sunday at Noon (CST). The Blue Devils downed the `Canes, 4-3, in an epic match during the ACC Championships back on Apr. 19 in Cary, N.C. The season series between the two teams is even, with UM taking the first meeting, 5-2, on Mar. 22 in Coral Gables.
“I’m very proud of the whole team,” continued Eichkorn. “That was a team effort. We were very relaxed this morning, and everyone felt like we could win this match. I had a good feeling when I woke up this morning.”
For more information on the NCAA Women’s Tennis Championships, please log on to www.ncaa.com. For information on the official site of the championships, please visit www.aggieathletics.com.
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.