Miami Women Enjoy Sweet Day Riding Into Round of 16
May 21, 2009
Updated Women’s Singles Bracket [PDF] 
College Station, Texas – The University of Miami women’s tennis team will be represented by three singles players and a doubles pair in the Round of 16 at the NCAA Women’s Tennis Singles/Doubles Championships with four wins coming on Wednesday, May 21 at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station, Texas.
For the first time in school history, Miami will have three singles players representing the Hurricanes in the Round of 16 at the NCAA Women’s Tennis Singles Championships. It is the first time that two or more Hurricanes have been in the Round of 16 since 1985 when Ronnie (Reis) Bernstein and Lise Gregory accomplished the feat.
“I’m just really happy with how well the girls are playing,” expressed eighth-year UM head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews. “To have three players from the University of Miami into the Round of 16 is amazing, and just says so much about this program. I’m really excited for them, and the way all of them are playing really good tennis right now.”
Bianca Eichkorn, ranked No. 31 and competing in her first-ever NCAA Singles Championships, stepped into the Round of 16 first with a convincing 6-1, 6-1 upset of UCLA’s 15th-ranked Yasmin Schnack. This is the second time in less than a week Eichkorn has taken down a Bruins player, triumphing over No. 114 Maya Johansson in straight sets (7-5, 6-3) in Miami’s Round of 16 win last week as part of the team tournament.
For Eichkorn, the victory placed her into an elite group at UM, becoming just the third player in school history to claim 40 singles wins in a season. Her record for the year stands at 40-8 as she joins former All-Americans Audra Cohen and Megan Bradley in that group–with all three players coached by Yaroshuk-Tews.
Eichkorn will face-off against Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) opponent Mallory Cecil of Duke in the next round. This will be the first-ever meeting between the two as Eichkorn saw action at the No. 3 singles slot in each of UM’s matches against the Blue Devils in 2009. Meanwhile, Cecil was Duke’s top flight singles player. Cecil advanced to the Round of 16 with a victory over defending NCAA Singles Champion Amanda McDowell of Georgia Tech.
The next victor for UM came by way of another upset performance, as two-time All-American Laura Vallverdu (No. 24) downed fourth-seeded Ani Mijacika (No. 4) of Clemson in straight sets (7-6, 7-6). She avenged a loss to Mijacika from the 2008 season during an ACC regular season matchup at the top flight singles spot. With the win, Vallverdu advances to her second consecutive “Sweet 16” appearance in the singles tournament, and upped her record for the year to 30-7.
“I’m coming up here, and I know Ani (Mijacika) really well,” admitted Vallverdu afterwards. “We’ve been through a lot in college. I knew she was tough. I knew how she played. I knew she was the fourth seed. I knew that I was coming up, and I wasn’t as tired as she was from yesterday.”
Vallverdu’s win allowed her to set yet another UM school record, becoming the school’s first-ever three-time 30-win player. In the process, she became the third 30-win player on this year’s team–the second time the feat has been accomplished under the guidance of Yaroshuk-Tews. Four players accomplished the task during the 2006-07 season, headlined by Audra Cohen (42-2) and, at the time, freshman Vallverdu (32-3).
“I just told myself, `just play every point and don’t give her anything’,” continued Vallverdu. “I knew that she was going to serve big, which she did, but I stepped up my serve and I took care of my games. Some points here and there in my first and second set and the tie breaker, I think I just out worked her a little bit, right there when it counted.”
The Valencia, Venezuela native will now face Megan Falcon (No. 13) as her next round opponent. Falcon survived a three-set affair with Gira Schofield (No. 43) of South Carolina (3-6, 6-4, 6-2) to earn her trip into the “Sweet 16”.
The final win for the Hurricanes in the singles bracket came when second-seeded and third-ranked All-ACC sophomore Julia Cohen took down Kristi Boxx (No. 36) of Ole Miss in straight-set fashion (6-2, 6-3). Cohen upped her record to 31-7 for the season, and makes her first-ever trip into the Round of 16 at the NCAA Singles Championships. In fact, Cohen trailed 2-0 in the second set before ripping off six of the next seven games for the match-victory.
“I guess the first round is always harder,” expressed Cohen shortly after her victory. “I felt more comfortable today, and I felt that I played a lot better. I just felt better all around, just more comfortable.”
Cohen will face Duke’s Ellah Nze (No. 37) in the Round of 16 as her next opponent. Nze earned her spot in the Round of 16 with a straight-set (6-2, 6-3) win over Southern California’s Amanda Fink.
This will be the first meeting between the two ACC competitors, as Cohen played all her matches at the No. 1 singles spot for UM, and Duke’s Nze saw her action as a steady No. 2 singles player for the 2009 NCAA Champion Blue Devils. However, Nze is no stranger to the Hurricanes, having lost all three singles matches to Vallverdu this year at the No. 2 position, giving the Blue Devils player and 0-3 record against Hurricanes performers this season.
Both Miami and Duke will represent the ACC heavily in the next round of singles play, with both schools having three players present in the Round of 16.
The day concluded for the Hurricanes as the No. 19 ranked duo of Michaela Kissell and Laura Vallverdu took down the 29th-ranked team of Maria Mosolova and Keri Robison of Northwestern in two sets, 7-5, 7-5. The NCAA format for the doubles tournament is a best-of-three format with sets going to six (must win by two or tie-break), contrary to the dual match season where it is one set to eight (win by two or tie-break).
The Hurricanes duo upped its record to 18-8 on the year, while also becoming the fifth doubles team since 2003 to advance into the second round of competition in the NCAA Doubles Championships.
They now look to face either Auburn’s 12th-ranked team of Whitney Chappell and Alex Haney, or California’s Mari Andersson and Jana Juricova–serving as a No. 5-8 seed for the tournament. The Cal duo is currently ranked seventh nationally. That match is slated for a 7 p.m. (CST) start at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center on the grandstand side of the stadium.
Times for Round of 16 men’s and women’s singles matches will be played on Friday, May 22 between 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. (CST). Times for both singles and doubles will not be available until after the completion of the opening round of doubles.
For more information on the NCAA Women’s Tennis Singles/Doubles Championships, please log on to www.ncaa.com. For information on the official site of the championships, please visit http://www.aggieathletics.com/ncaa2009/tennis/.
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.
