No. 6 `Canes Edged by No. 5 Baylor, 4-3, in Women's Tennis

No. 6 `Canes Edged by No. 5 Baylor, 4-3, in Women's Tennis

Feb. 6, 2010

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Coral Gables, Fla. – A highly-anticipated women’s tennis meeting between No. 6 Miami and No. 5 Baylor ended in dramatic fashion on Saturday as Baylor edged Miami, 4-3, at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center in Coral Gables, Fla.

Baylor (3-0) opened the match collecting the all-important doubles point by taking two-of-three positions on the court.

Miami (3-1) grabbed the first doubles match when the Hurricanes’ team of Anna Bartenstein and Bianca Eichkorn downed Baylor’s Taylor Ormond and Carla Lindlar, 8-4, at the second position. The win moved the team of Bartenstein/Eichkorn up to 7-2 on the year, winning their last five matches consecutively.

The Bears evened the doubles point at the top flight position as the 13th-ranked duo of Lenka Broosova and Csilla Borsanyi upset Miami’s third-ranked pair of Gabriela Mejia and Laura Vallverdu, 8-5. The team of Mejia and Vallverdu fell for the first time in the spring, and dropped their record to 13-3 on the season.

With all eyes focused squarely on the third flight in doubles play, it took an extra game to decide the battle between Miami’s Danielle Mills and Claudia Wasilewski versus Baylor’s Nina Secerbegovic and Karolina Filipiak. Baylor trailed 8-7 in the match before rallying to tie the match at 8-all. With momentum swinging in their favor, the tie-break went to the Bears, as they claimed a 7-4 victory, and the doubles point.

In singles competition, UM junior Bianca Eichkorn (No. 99) was first to leave the courts as she tallied her fifth-straight win of the spring courtesy a 7-5, 6-0 defeat of the Bears’ Csilla Borsanyi (No. 70) at the second position. Eichkorn upped her record to 9-4 on the slate, and grabbed her first win against a nationally-ranked foe on the season, improving that record to 1-2.

UM went ahead 2-1 in the match when freshman Danielle Mills tacked on a decisive 6-3, 6-4 victory at the fifth position, grabbing the win from Baylor’s Karolina Filipiak. For Mills, the victory moved her record out to 9-6 on the year, and she stays unbeaten in the spring at 4-0.

The Hurricanes would seem in control of the match after staking a 3-1 lead when Gabriela Mejia (No. 93) walked off the courts after turning in a 6-4, 6-2 defeat of the Bears’ Taylor Ormond in the fourth singles position. Mejia jumped her record for the year to 10-2, and has now posted six consecutive victories dating back to the Michigan Invitational earlier in the season.

The Bears closed the gap in the match, 3-2, at the sixth spot as Carla Lindlar laid claim to a three-set decision over UM senior Claudia Wasilewski, ending the match on a 6-0, 4-6, 6-2 line. For Wasilewski, the loss was her first of the spring as she drops to 9-6 overall for the year, and is now 2-1 in the spring – not including a walkover victory against Boston University in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend.

The match became tied at 3-3 following a close decision at the top flight singles spot.

Senior Laura Vallverdu (No. 7) fell to Baylor’s Lenka Broosova (No. 17) in three sets after winning the opener. Vallverdu grabbed the opening set, 6-3, and then turned a 2-1 deficit into a 4-3 advantage in the second. However, Broosova used her talented backhand throughout much of the match to force a third and final set, winning the second, 6-4.

In the third set, Broosova led most of the way en route to the 6-4 decision – finishing with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 line in the top singles position.

Vallverdu suffered her first loss of the spring, falling to 3-1, and is now 15-7 on the year.

The match stood in the hands of both players at the third position, as the crowd flowed to Court #3 for the battle between Miami’s Anna Bartenstein and Baylor’s Nina Secerbegovic (No. 24).

Bartenstein opened the match with a 6-4 victory in the first set, and then cruised through much of the second. With the battle at the top flight still going on, and the match sitting at 3-2 in favor of Miami at the time, the Graz, Austria native [Bartenstein] was serving for team- and individual match-point – leading the second set 5-4 – and up 30-15 in the game.

However, Secerbegovic turned things around with a costly UM error and shots down the lines to knot the set, 5-all, and eventually roll to a 7-5 victory – forcing a third set.

The crowd wouldn’t shift from Court #3 and the all-decisive third set as the team match was now even, 3-3.

Bartenstein and Secerbegovic were deadlocked in the match at 3-3, but in the end it was Baylor’s Secerbegovic coming out on top, 6-3. She earned the victory for herself and the No. 5 Bears courtesy a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 triumph. UM’s Bartenstein fell for the first time in the spring, dropping to 3-1, and dropped season record to 13-3.

Miami will now prepare for its next match at the ITA Indoor Championships when the sixth-ranked Hurricanes take on No. 12 UCLA on Fri., Feb. 12 at the A.C. Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison, Wis. The event, hosted by the University of Wisconsin, runs through Mon., Feb. 15.

Miami enters the ITA Indoor Championships as a No. 6 seed after winning consecutive matches in the Coral Gables section of last weekend’s ITA Kick-Off Weekend.

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.

#5 Baylor 4, #6 Miami 3

Singles
1. #17 Lenka Broosova (BAY) def. #7 Laura Vallverdu (UM) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
2. #99 Bianca Eichkorn (UM) def. #70 Csilla Borsanyi (BAY) 7-5, 6-0
3. #24 Nina Secerbegovic (BAY) def. Anna Bartenstein (UM) 4-6, 7-5, 6-3
4. #93 Gabriela Mejia (UM) def. Taylor Ormond (BAY) 6-4, 6-2
5. Danielle Mills (UM) def. Karolina Filipiak (BAY) 6-3, 6-4
6. Carla Lindlar (BAY) def. Claudia Wasilewski (UM) 6-0, 4-6, 6-2
Order of finish: 2,5,4,6,1,3*

Doubles
1. #13 Lenka Broosova/Csilla Borsanyi (BAY) def. #3 Gabriela Mejia/Laura Vallverdu (UM) 8-5
2. Anna Bartenstein/Bianca Eichkorn (UM) def. Taylor Ormond/Carla Lindlar (BAY) 8-4
3. Nina Secerbegovic/Karolina Filipiak (BAY) def. Danielle Mills/Claudia Wasilewski (UM) 9-8
Order of finish: 2,1,3*