Eichkorn, Vallverdu Advance in NCAA Singles Tournament
May 26, 2010
Athens, Ga. – The University of Miami’s Bianca Eichkorn and eighth-seeded Laura Vallverdu each turned in straight-set victories on Thursday, advancing into the Round of 32 at the NCAA Women’s Tennis Singles Championships inside the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga.
For the second consecutive season, at least two Hurricanes women’s tennis student-athletes will represent the University of Miami in the second round of the NCAA Singles Championships. This season’s tournament is being host by the University of Georgia.
Laura Vallverdu, a senior three-time All-American and four-time All-ACC selection, earned the No. 8 seed for the singles tournament, and opened her Round of 64 match on the Henry Field Courts–the main grandstand courts for the host University of Georgia Bulldogs men’s and women’s tennis teams.
Vallverdu, the 2009 NCAA Singles Runner-Up, bounced back from a loss in her last match to collect a 6-2, 6-2 victory from 24th-ranked Aeriel Ellis of the University of Texas. The win for Vallverdu pushed her season record out to 32-12, and gave her a team-leading 18 wins against nationally ranked opponents this season. She will now await her opponent for Thursday’s action, facing the winner of Alexa Guarachi (Alabama) and Mallory Burdette (Stanford), who are set to begin play at 5:30 p.m. The match time for Vallverdu’s match on Thursday is scheduled to begin at noon.
At the McWhorter Courts, Bianca Eichkorn, ranked No. 40 nationally, posted the first win for the `Canes duo of players competing in this year’s singles field of 64. The 2009 ITA All-American and two-time All-ACC competitor stepped off the courts with a 7-5, 6-3 defeat of TCU’s 55th-ranked Nina Munch-Soegaard.
The victory for Eichkorn was her 25th consecutive in singles competition, and pulls her 2009-10 overall record to 29-4. The Tengen, Germany native has not lost a match since Jan. 17, on the second day of the three-day affair during the Michigan Invitational in Ann Arbor. Eichkorn currently has the third longest winning streak in UM women’s tennis history.
Megan Bradley, a three-time All-American for the `Canes (2002-05) and current Princeton University head coach, has the longest streak, recording 39 singles wins during the 2004-05 campaign. Meanwhile, Audra Cohen, the 2007 NCAA Singles Champion and current assistant coach with the University of Wisconsin, registered 28 consecutive wins during her championship season, before falling in the ACC Tournament. She would ultimately rebound to become the first national singles champion coached by UM head women’s tennis coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews.
“It’s always good to get that first match out of the way, especially considering the girls haven’t played in a few days,” stated Yaroshuk-Tews. “They seemed fresh, and it was good to get a win, and move on to tomorrow’s singles and doubles matches.”
Eichkorn will meet 50th-ranked Micaela Hein of Arizona State in the Round of 32 on Thurs., May 27, at 1 p.m. Hein earned her trip into the second round after collecting a 7-5, 6-0 upset victory over Fresno State’s Anastasia Petukhova, a No. 9-16 seed in the singles field.
Also beginning tomorrow will be the NCAA Doubles Tournament, in which Miami’s sixth-ranked team of Vallverdu and Gabriela Mejia will compete as a No. 5-8. Vallverdu and Mejia will open their Round of 32 match facing Denver’s 54th-ranked team of Sophia Bergner and Ute Schnoy. A time for the match has yet to be determined.
All matches in singles and doubles will be played at either the Henry Field Courts or the McWhorter Courts inside the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. If inclement weather ensues at any point during the matches, they will be moved to either the Lindsey Hopkins Indoor Facility or the Norcross (Ga.) Indoor Facility a short drive from the Athens area.
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. If rain forces play to move indoors, then there will not be live video, and only live scoring.
