No. 11 Miami Women's Tennis to Host NCAA Regional
May 4, 2010
2010 NCAA Women’s Tennis Championships Bracket 
Coral Gables, Fla. – The University of Miami women’s tennis team is set to host the Coral Gables Regional for the upcoming NCAA Women’s Tennis Tournament as announced on Tues., May 4, by the NCAA Selection Committee in a live telecast provided by ESPNews. The Hurricanes are one of 16 host sites, and drew the No. 11 overall seed in this year’s tournament which begins Fri., May 14.
All matches for the Coral Gables Regional will take place at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Miami.
The selection marks the sixth consecutive year the Hurricanes have received a national seed and will host a regional. In each of the past four years, Miami won first and second round matches at home to advance as one of 16 regional winners to the NCAA Championships. This is also the 15th consecutive season UM is advancing to the NCAA Tournament, while Yaroshuk-Tews has guided them to the event in each of her nine seasons at the helm in Coral Gables.
Miami (17-5) is ranked No. 11 in this week’s Campbell/ITA poll, and earned the No. 11 overall seed in this year’s field of 64. The Hurricanes finished the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) season at 10-1, and earned the No. 2 seed in the ACC Championships. Their only loss of the ACC season came to this year’s No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, the University of North Carolina. UM lost to the then top-ranked Tar Heels, 4-3, in a tough match in Chapel Hill back on Apr. 17.
Joining the `Canes in this year’s Coral Gables Regional will be No. 26 University of South Florida (11-7), No. 35 Texas A&M (14-9) and Boston University (11-11). With USF and Texas A&M earning at-large bids to this year’s championships, Boston earned the automatic bid by claiming the America East title.
“Hosting an NCAA Regional has been a goal of ours all season,” stated UM head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews, now in her ninth season in Coral Gables. “It’s always nice to be able to achieve a goal you have in place from the beginning of the season. More importantly, to be able to do it with these six young ladies we have is just incredible.”
The Terriers are making their second trip of the 2010 season to Coral Gables, having taken part in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend hosted by the University of Miami on Jan. 30-31. Miami defeated the Terriers, then ranked No. 62 in the nation, by a count of 7-0 in its opening-round match.
USF and Texas A&M made appearances in the semifinal rounds of their respective conference championships of both the BIG EAST (USF) and Big 12 (Texas A&M). The Aggies of Texas A&M served as last year’s NCAA Championships host in College Station, Texas.
The teams will play a single-elimination tournament at 16 first- and second-round sites (four teams at each site) and the finals site (16-team bracket) to determine the national champion. The matches shall be regulation dual matches with three (3) eight-game, pro-set doubles played for one team point, followed by six (6) singles matches, each valued at one team point, played best of three sets. Regular scoring will be used and a 12-point tiebreaker will be played at eight games all in doubles and at six games all in singles.
The Coral Gables Regional schedule will begin with USF taking on Texas A&M on Fri., May 14, at 10 a.m. That will be followed by Miami facing Boston at 1 p.m. The Coral Gables Regional championship match is scheduled for Sat., May 15, at 2 p.m.
“I think that every team in this year’s tournament here in Coral Gables is capable of winning,” expressed Yaroshuk-Tews. “You can’t take anyone lightly in this year’s field. We played Boston earlier in the year, but we have to be prepared for them again. We have a real solid match in front of us next Friday. We need to try and come out and dominate in our opening-round match, and then hopefully keep that energy and enthusiasm going into the next match, in order to get the chance to advance to the Round of 16.”
This year, the University of Georgia and the city of Athens will serve as host of the 2010 NCAA Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships.
Baylor, North Carolina, Florida, Michigan and Notre Dame earned the top five national seeds, while Northwestern, UCLA, Stanford, Clemson, Duke and Miami earned spots 6 through 11. The Baylor Bears enter the tournament as the No. 1 overall seed, and have shared time atop the Campbell/ITA poll with North Carolina throughout much of the latter part of the regular season.
Joining the UNC Tar Heels and Miami Hurricanes in the field of 64 out of the ACC are the ninth-seeded Clemson Tigers, 10th-seeded Duke Blue Devils, 14th-seeded Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, 15th-seeded Florida State Seminoles and the Virginia Cavaliers.
“I think, without a doubt, the ACC is the toughest conference in the country this year,” stated Yaroshuk-Tews. “I think it’s undeniable, and it’s great for every team in this league to have it shown with six teams getting national seeds. This league has great coaches, great student-athletes and great programs. We really beat up on each other during the year, and it only made us better and got us prepared for where we are, as a league, at this point in the season. There is never an easy point, set or match in this league, and the seeding today proved that.”
UM collected an overall record of 8-5 against teams participating in this year’s NCAA Tournament. That overall mark also includes wins over five of the 16 nationally-seeded institutions, including No. 9 Clemson, No. 10 Duke, No. 14 Georgia Tech and No. 15 Florida State.
The list of individuals selected to the singles and doubles championships will be released on Wednesday evening.
For ticket information on the Coral Gables Regional, please contact the UM Ticket Office at 1-800-GO-CANES. Box office hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For more information on the Coral Gables Regional, please log on to www.hurricanesports.com. To gather information on the NCAA Women’s Tennis Tournament, please locate your internet browser to www.NCAAsports.com.
Coral Gables Regional Schedule
Friday, May 14
Match #1: Texas A&M vs. USF, 10 a.m.
Match #2: Boston University vs. No. 11 Miami, 1 p.m.
Saturday, May 15
Match #3: Winner of Match #1 vs. Winner of Match #2, 2 p.m.
