Miami to Face ACC Foe Duke in NCAA Tennis Quarterfinals
May 16, 2009
NCAA Quarterfinal Notes [PDF] 
| Live Video/Stats
College Station, Texas – The University of Miami women’s tennis team, the No. 6 overall seed in this year’s NCAA Women’s Tennis Tournament, is set to face Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) foe Duke University in the Quarterfinals on Sunday, May 17 inside the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center at 1 p.m. (EST) in College Station, Texas.
Miami (26-4) earned its seventh all-time appearance in the NCAA Quarterfinals with a 4-2 defeat of defending national champion UCLA, 4-2, on Friday. After trailing 1-0 following the doubles point, UM claimed three-straight singles matches before Bianca Eichkorn closed-out the match for the Hurricanes.
Meanwhile, Duke enters Sunday’s match having defeated Arkansas on Friday afternoon by a count of 4-2. The Blue Devils, much like the `Canes, dropped the doubles point–only to come back and claim three-straight singles wins.
The Hurricanes and Blue Devils split a series of matches this year, with Duke claiming the last meeting, 4-3, in a classic match in the ACC title contest in Durham, N.C. Miami took the regular season meeting between the two teams, 5-2, in Coral Gables.
For the `Canes, this will be the first-ever meeting against an ACC team in the NCAA Tournament, while holding a 1-2 record in the quarterfinals all-time. The last quarterfinal appearance for UM was a 4-1 setback at the hands of Stanford in 2007.
With her match-clinching victory Friday, Miami’s Eichkorn moved into sole possession of third place all-time at UM for single-season wins, passing UM volunteer assistant coach Megan Bradley’s junior season record (37-6). Eichkorn is now four wins behind 2007 NCAA Singles Champion Audra Cohen (2006-07) for a share of second place as she posted a record of 42-2 during that championship season.
Fellow sophomore Michaela Kissell (36-7) is now tied for fifth place all-time at Miami for wins in a single-season, now sharing the honor with current University of Michigan head coach Ronni Reis (Bernstein) who registered a record of 36-5 in 1984-85.
For more information on the NCAA Women’s Tennis Championships, please log on to the official NCAA Championships site for this year’s event: http://www.aggieathletics.com/ncaa2009/tennis/. Once there, you will find up-to-date news, live scoring, results and standings related to this year’s event.
About the Duke Blue Devils…
The Duke Blue Devils come into the NCAA Quarterfinals having earned a hard-fought 4-2 victory over Arkansas out of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Friday afternoon.
The Blue Devils, champions out of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), enter the match ranked No. 3 in the nation and earned the league’s automatic bid to the field of 64 with the ACC Tournament title victory over Miami.
Mallory Cecil (No. 6) and Ella Nze (No. 55) are two of Duke’s top players, while it may-well be the play of No. 3 singles player Reka Zsilinszka (No. 30) that has provided the Blue Devils with the most enthusiasm and spark of late. She has been a part of three match-clinching wins for Duke in the Blue Devils’ last eight matches.
Home Cleaning, Spring Sweeping…
Miami ended its domination of the 2009 home season inside the Neil Schiff Tennis Center with a record of 16-0 following the NCAA Tournament [Coral Gables Regional]. The Hurricanes’ back-to-back 4-0 wins helped serve as the ninth shutout of the season at home.
Four Players Enter Individual Tournament…
Four players for UM have been invited to participate in the NCAA Singles/Doubles Championships, beginning immediately after the NCAA Team Championships. Julia Cohen enters as the No. 2 overall seed, while Laura Vallverdu makes her school-record tying third consecutive appearance to the singles field of 64. Making their first appearance are teammates Bianca Eichkorn and Michaela Kissell.
Back to Texas for a Slate of Matches…
Miami is making its second appearance in the “Lone Star State” this weekend, after splitting a pair of matches at No. 7 Baylor (L, 2-4) and No. 21 TCU (W, 6-1) in late February. After Friday’s Round of 16 win, UM is now 6-1 all-time in NCAA Tournament matches played in Texas.
Did You Know?…
Miami is making its 24th all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament this season? The Hurricanes tote a record of 31-23 into the NCAA Round of 16 in College Station, Texas, including runner-up appearances in 1985 and 2006. Miami has been in the tournament the following years: 1982, `83, `84, `85, `86, `87, `88, `89, `91, `92, `96, `97, `98, `99, 2000, `01, `02, `03, `04, `05, `06, `07, `08 and, ultimately, 2009.
UM Versus Top 30 Opponents…
Miami enters the NCAA Tournament [Quarterfinals] boasting a 13-4 record against teams ranked in the Top 30 of this year’s Campbell’s/ITA poll. The Hurricanes have also claimed three wins over teams ranked in the Top 5 nationally at the time they met. UM has laid claim to wins over teams ranked in the Top 10 every year since 2003, including an upset of top-ranked Florida in 2004 as part of the NCAA Tournament [Gainesville Regional].
