No. 11 Women's Tennis Opens Round of 16 with Northwestern
May 19, 2010
Complete Round of 16 Match Notes (PDF) 
Athens, Ga. – The 11th-ranked University of Miami women’s tennis team will take part in the “Sweet 16” of the 2010 NCAA Women’s Tennis Tournament, meeting No. 5 Northwestern on Thurs., May 20, at 9 a.m., at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga.
The University of Georgia, home of the ITA Collegiate Hall of Fame, plays host for this year’s NCAA Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships, running May 20 through May 31.
Miami (19-5) is making its seventh appearance all-time in the “Sweet 16” of the NCAA Women’s Tennis Tournament since the tournament moved to 64 teams in 1999. This marks the sixth time the `Canes have advanced to the Round of 16 under the direction of head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews, now in her ninth season at the helm in Coral Gables.
The `Canes advanced to this year’s “Sweet 16” after taking consecutive 4-0 decisions from Boston University and the University of South Florida last weekend as part of the Coral Gables Regional. Last season, Miami advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals for the third time in the last four years, defeating UCLA (W, 4-2), before falling to eventual national champion Duke (L, 4-1).
The Northwestern Wildcats come into the NCAA Round of 16 sporting a 23-6 record on the season. The Wildcats earned the trip to Athens after posting consecutive 4-0 victories over Miami (Ohio) and Washington, respectively. The Wildcats earned the wins as part of the Evanston Regional in Illinois.
The Wildcats are ranked No. 5 in the national poll, and are the No. 6 seed in this year’s tournament. They are making their seventh consecutive appearance in the Round of 16, and are under the direction of head coach Claire Pollard. Two of Northwestern’s top three singles players are nationally ranked, including All- American Maria Mosolova at the top spot. Mosolova is 20-6 overall and in the spring, and sits ranked 13th nationally in the singles poll. Behind her at the No. 2 position is Samantha Murray, sporting a record of 18-7 on the campaign, and ranked No. 41 nationally.
Miami has four players ranked in the latest Campbell/ITA singles poll, using four-time All-ACC member, and three-time All-American Laura Vallverdu at the top position. Vallverdu, Miami’s all-time wins leader with 126 career singles victories, is No. 7 in this week’s poll. With a win last weekend, Vallverdu collected her fourth consecutive 30-win season in a Hurricanes uniform. In the doubles category, Vallverdu has 102 total wins, placing her fourth all-time in school history.
All-America junior Bianca Eichkorn is also ranked this week for UM, coming in at No. 40 in the poll, as she enters Thursday’s match working on a team-best 23-match win streak dating back to January. On the year, Eichkorn is 27-4, and holds a record of 22-0 in the spring. All-time at UM, Eichkorn continues to work her way up the career singles wins chart, now sitting in seventh place in the record books with 96 total wins.
Also ranked for Miami are sophomores Anna Bartenstein (No. 84) and Gabriela Mejia (No. 113).
Mejia, a native of Cali, Colombia, turned in two wins in singles and doubles action last weekend during the Coral Gables Regional. Against Boston University, Mejia collected an 8-1 victory in doubles play, before earning a 6-0, 6-0 win at the No. 5 position, defeating BU’s Monika Mical. In the process, Mejia was the first off the courts for the `Canes. In the Regional Championship, Mejia and Vallverdu teamed to post an 8-1 win over USF’s 16th-ranked tandem of Irene Rehberger and Melissa Koning. For the duo, it was their 10th consecutive doubles win at the No. 1 position. Mejia would then go on to collect the match-clinching win for UM at the No. 5 singles spot, registering a 6-0, 6-2 win over the Bulls’ Jessica Zok.
Mejia moved her 2009-10 record out to 28-4, while improving to 22-2 in the spring. In addition, she has collected wins in 17 of her last 18 matches, and has posted 16 consecutive doubles wins.
Bartenstein, a sophomore transfer from Tulane, is working on a 29-6 record entering the match against Northwestern. The Graz, Austria native has turned in seven wins in her last 10 matches, and owns a record of 19-4 in the spring for the `Canes.
In doubles play, Miami’s team of Vallverdu and Mejia is ranked No. 6 in the Campbell/ITA doubles poll, bringing a record of 24-5 (13-3 in the spring) into Thursday’s “Sweet 16” match against the Wildcats. Together, they have recorded 10 consecutive wins at the No. 1 doubles spot.
Northwestern leads the all-time series against Miami, 6-3, collecting a 6-1 victory the last time the two teams met in the 2009 ITA National Indoor Championships in Madison, Wis.
Miami is 123-30 in their singles matches this year, including a commanding 51-11 performance in the `Canes last 10 matches–seven of those coming against nationally ranked competition. The Hurricanes have dropped just seven singles matches on the campaign at the No. 1 through No. 3 positions on the court.
There will be links to live scoring and live video of each match played at the NCAA Tournament Central page here: http://www.ncaa.com/sports/c-tennis/champpage/c-tennis-div1-index.html. That also includes live video of each match of the singles and doubles tournaments. If rain forces play to move indoors, then there will not be live video, and only live scoring.
