Hurricanes Place Two in NCAA Women's Singles Quarterfinals
May 22, 2009
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College Station, texas – Junior Laura Vallverdu and sophomore Julia Cohen advanced to Saturday’s quarterfinals where they will represent the University of Miami women’s tennis team in the NCAA Women’s Tennis Singles Championships at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station, Texas. However, UM sophomore Bianca Eichkorn’s historic run came to an end with a straight-set defeat.
After four rounds of competition, the University of Miami is one of just two schools, including Duke, to have three All-Americans as a team with Julia Cohen, Bianca Eichkorn and Laura Vallverdu. It is the first All-America award for Eichkorn and Cohen, and the third consecutive for Vallverdu.
Make it back-to-back days of a new “first” for the University of Miami women’s tennis team and head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews, as for the first time in school history the Hurricanes will be represented by multiple players in the NCAA Singles quarterfinal round.
“We’re really happy for Laura [Vallverdu] and Julia [Cohen], and they’re competing well right now,” stated UM head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews. “Julia played a good match from start to finish. It’s nice to have two players in the quarterfinals.”
Julia Cohen, the No. 2 overall seed for the tournament ranked No. 3 nationally, faced off against Duke’s Ellah Nze (No. 37)–who saw most of her time during the year as a mainstay at the No. 2 singles spot for the national champion Blue Devils. Looking for her first win against a Hurricanes player on the season, after dropping three consecutive to Laura Vallverdu during the regular season, Nze’s chance for an upset was halted in straight sets by Cohen.
All-ACC performer Cohen, a native of Philadelphia, Pa., used a 6-4, 6-4 straight-set line to defeat Nze, and advance to her first-ever NCAA Singles Quarterfinals.
Trailing 3-1 in the second set, Cohen surged back to collect the next four games, lifting her to a 5-3 advantage. Nze took the next game, before Cohen closed out the match pushing her record for the year out to 32-7. Of her last 15 wins on the year, all have come by straight-set decisions.
“It was a little bit windy so it was hard to play, but I thought that I competed well,” stated Cohen, advancing to her first-ever NCAA Singles Championship Quarterfinal round. “I think that is what made the match.”
Cohen will face her second consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) opponent in the quarterfinals when she meets Sanaz Marand of North Carolina on Friday. Cohen had little trouble taking a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Marand in the only other meeting between the two competitors in a team match between UNC and Miami back on Mar. 20 in Coral Gables, Fla. With today’s win, Cohen runs her record against ACC opponents for the year out to 13-3.
“I liked playing next to Bianca (Eichkorn, who was competing on the adjacent court) because she is my doubles partner,” admitted Cohen. “She is one of my good friends, so I really liked to be near her. It helped motivate me.”
Not to be outdone was Laura Vallverdu. She was making her second consecutive trip to the Round of 16 after a pulling a 7-6(4), 7-6(3) upset of fourth-seed Ani Mijacika of Clemson on Thursday. In the process, she was seeking a different outcome from her last “Sweet 16” match, a straight-set (7-5, 6-1) setback at the hands of Arkansas’ Aurelije Miseviciute.
Vallverdu, ranked No. 24, took on LSU’s Megan Falcon (No. 13) for a shot at her first-ever NCAA Singles Quarterfinals. Falcon, a No. 9-16 seed for the tournament, opened the match claiming a 6-3 victory in the first set. She would lead 4-2 in the second, before Vallverdu quickly turned things around and played aggressively.
Vallverdu bounced back from her second-set hole (4-2), to claim the next three games in order to take a 5-4 lead. Falcon responded, in kind, with a victory to knot the set at 5-5, before Vallverdu claimed the last two games, forcing a third set. Vallverdu’s emotions were evident after the set, as she let out an emphatic “Come on!”
“Laura settled into the match, and she was a better player today,” continued Yaroshuk-Tews. “She made a few changes, and just continued to get better as the match progressed.”
In the third set, Vallverdu was emotionally charged and undeterred in her efforts for her first-ever NCAA Quarterfinals dashing past Falcon, 6-0, claiming the three-set affair (3-6, 7-5, 6-0). She sets to carry a 31-7 record into Friday’s quarterfinal matchup with Florida’s Marrit Boonstra, also sitting as a No. 9-16 seed for the tournament. For Vallverdu, it will be her third-straight seeded player faced in this year’s field.
“Laura started slow and turned it around,” stated Yaroshuk-Tews of her now three-time All-America performer. “Julia and Laura have been the two leading the program all year, and they deserve a lot of the credit for what we’ve done as a team.”
The attempt to have all three players for UM enter the quarterfinals was stalled as 31st-ranked Bianca Eichkorn was unable to take down No. 5 seed and sixth-ranked Mallory Cecil of Duke. Cecil claimed a 6-2, 7-5 win over All-ACC sophomore Eichkorn, ending one of the greatest years for a sophomore women’s tennis player in school history.
All-ACC performer Eichkorn concludes the season with a record of 40-9, and is just the third player in UM women’s tennis history to lay claim to a 40-win season. Her 40 wins in third-best all-time in a single season, trailing only All-Americans Megan Bradley (2004-05) and Audra Cohen (2006-07).
Earlier Friday, Eichkorn was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District III Second Team, adding to the list of accomplishments throughout the season.
The 19th-ranked Miami doubles team of Michaela Kissell and Laura Vallverdu ended their run in the Round of 16 with a 7-5, 6-4 defeat to the seventh-ranked doubles team of Mari Andersson and Jana Juricova of California. Together, Kissell and Vallverdu end the year with a record of 18-9, while Vallverdu made her second-straight trip to the Round of 16 in doubles play.
As a team, the University of Miami finished the season ranked seventh in the Campbell’s/ITA team poll released Friday morning by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA). For the Hurricanes, it is their highest finish since ending the year fourth and advancing to the NCAA Championship match in 2006. It’s also the fourth time in the last eight years UM has ended the year ranked amongst the Top 10.
Times for all quarterfinal singles matches tomorrow will begin at 10 a.m. (CT) due to the threat of inclement weather. Both men’s and women’s singles quarterfinals were originally scheduled to start at noon (CT). Men’s and women’s doubles times will be posted after the conclusion of doubles play tonight.
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.
