Women's Tennis Ready for ITA Regionals in Atlanta
Oct. 22, 2009
Coral Gables, Fla. – The University of Miami women’s tennis team is set to return to the courts for the Wilson/ITA Southern Regional Women’s Tennis Championships hosted by Georgia Tech on Oct. 23-26 in Atlanta. The event takes place at the Bill Moore Tennis Center on the campus of Georgia Tech.
With three-time All-American Laura Vallverdu serving as the only participant at the Riviera All-American Championships earlier this month, the rest of the Hurricanes are well-rested since their last tournament–the Georgia Tech Fall Invite in September.
The Hurricanes return a host of players who saw action in last year’s regional in Athens, Ga. Among the returnees are junior All-American Bianca Eichkorn and senior Claudia Wasilewski. Eichkorn collected a 2-1 record in last season’s event, while Wasilewski went 1-1 on the weekend. Vallverdu, however, did not participate due to injury.
Vallverdu, ranked No. 6 in the ITA Preseason poll, enters this season’s tournament carrying a record of 2-3 following competition two weeks ago at the All-American Championships. However, Vallverdu’s wins include defeating second-ranked Chelsey Gullickson (Georgia), as well as No. 17 Maria Sanchez (Southern California).
“Laura [Vallverdu] is playing some solid tennis,” stated UM women’s tennis head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews. “She needs to get off to quick starts and play every point of this tournament as hard as she can. As long as she stays focused, then she’ll do great.”
Eichkorn comes into the tournament set to compete in her first singles competition of the 2009 fall campaign. The Tengen, Germany junior is coming off injury, and has only seen doubles action thus far on the year alongside partner Wasilewski in one match at the Georgia Tech fall Invite.
“Bianca has worked so hard these last few months preparing for this and is finally healthy and ready to go,” commented Yaroshuk-Tews. “Bouncing back from an injury is one of the toughest things in sports, but Bianca’s head is in the right spot and I know she’ll be just fine.”
Sophomore Anna Bartenstein, in her first year with the UM program after transferring from Tulane, holds a perfect 3-0 record in singles play for the Hurricanes in her singles domination at the Georgia Tech Fall Invite. In her wins thus far, Bartenstein has downed 2008 NCAA Singles Champion Amanda McDowell (Georgia Tech) and No. 108 Cameron Ellis (Georgia).
Equally as impressive to begin the season is sophomore Gabriela Mejia. Mejia holds a similar 3-0 record on the season from the GT Fall Invite, and picked up a win over No. 41 Yvette Hyndman (Georgia).
Also playing this weekend in singles play for UM is senior Wasilewski and freshman Danielle Mills. Wasilewski picked up a 3-1 record at the GT Fall Invite in her only other tournament of the fall, while Mills finished 1-2 in her collegiate tourney debut for the `Canes.
Wasilewski has been playing steady tennis on the fall, and she is one Yaroshuk-Tews is hoping to have a quality weekend against great competition in order to get ready for the spring, where she will be counted on heavily at either the No. 5 or No. 6 position in singles play.
This year’s event will feature the top players from 15 Division I schools, including seven teams that finished in the ITA top 50 in 2008-2009. Main Draw competition will begin Friday, Oct. 23 at 8 a.m., with the first two rounds of singles and first round of doubles. The doubles and singles finals will be held on Monday, Oct. 26. There will be two flights, an “A” and a “B,” which features a 64-player singles draw and a 32-team doubles bracket. A consolation draw will be taking place for singles action only.
The “A” flight singles and doubles winners, along with the singles finalist, will advance to the ITA National Indoor Championships in November held at Yale University in New Haven, Conn. The elite event, slated for Nov. 5-8, is the second collegiate grand slam event of the season. Winners and finalists from the various ITA Regional Championships around the country plus at-large selections will make up the singles field of 32 and the 16-team doubles draw.
Parking will be available in the Alexander Memorial Coliseum lot for the entire tournament. Please be advised that no parking will be available on Fowler Street and 8th Street on Thursday, Friday and Monday.
As the governing body of collegiate tennis the ITA promotes both the athletic and academic achievements of the collegiate tennis community. The ITA, which was founded in 1956 and is based in Skillman, N.J., administers numerous regional and national championships, the ITA Collegiate Summer Circuit presented by the USTA, and the ITA Rankings for men’s and women’s tennis at the NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA and Junior/Community College. The ITA also has a comprehensive awards program for players and coaches to honor excellence in academics, leadership and sportsmanship. The official ITA website is www.itatennis.com.
For more information and results from the Wilson/ITA Southeast Region Championships, please click here.
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.
