Three NCAA Women's Quarterfinals Spots Belong to UM
May 28, 2010
Updated Women’s Singles Bracket 
Athens, Ga. – University of Miami women’s tennis players Bianca Eichkorn and Laura Vallverdu turned in straight-set wins on Friday, cruising into the quarterfinals of the NCAA Women’s Tennis Singles Championship at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga. In addition, Miami’s doubles team of Gabriela Mejia and Vallverdu advanced to the NCAA Doubles Quarterfinals with a straight-set win over the defending national doubles champions from the University of California.
Miami is the only team in this year’s field with multiple players still in action as part of the singles tournament. For the second consecutive season, UM women’s tennis head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews has two student-athletes in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Singles Tournament, and now a doubles pair into the quarterfinals for the first time since 2006. Additionally, 2009 NCAA Singles Runner-Up Laura Vallverdu is a competitor for the `Canes in both the singles and doubles brackets.
“I think Bianca [Eichkorn] and Laura [Vallverdu] are playing some of the best tennis they have played all season,” stated Yaroshuk-Tews. “They’re both competing very hard, and they’re just playing with such confidence and heart right now, and it’s showing with some great tennis on the courts in this tournament.”
Vallverdu, Miami’s all-time singles wins leader with 130 career victories, grabbed her team-leading 34th win of the year by virtue of a 6-2, 6-2 triumph over Tennessee’s 11th-ranked Caitlin Whoriskey. For Vallverdu, the No. eight seed in this year’s tournament, the win was the eighth in her last nine NCAA Singles Tournament matches, and proved to be her third consecutive win against a nationally ranked opponent. On the season, Vallverdu sits 34-12 overall, with 20 wins coming against ranked competition.
She will now face No. 3 seed Maria Sanchez (Southern California) on Sat., May 29, with a time to be announced later Friday evening. Vallverdu defeated Sanchez 6-2, 6-4, back on Oct. 9, 2009, during the consolation round of the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships in Pacific Palisades, Calif.
Making her first trip into the NCAA Singles Quarterfinals is 2009 All-American junior Bianca Eichkorn. Eichkorn, ranked No. 40 nationally, earned a trip to the quarterfinals after turning in a 6-4, 7-6(3) upset of Baylor’s fifth-seeded Lenka Broosova in the early morning match on the Henry Field Courts. For Eichkorn, the victory was her 27th consecutive win in singles competition, and is just one shy of tying Audra Cohen, the 2007 NCAA Singles Champion and current assistant coach with the University of Wisconsin, who registered 28 consecutive victories during her championship season.
Eichkorn’s win improved her overall record for the year to 31-4, while Broosova serves as the highest ranked player she has defeated in her three years in Coral Gables. Her previous-high victory was a 6-1, 6-3 upset of 15th-ranked Yasmin Schnack of UCLA on May 21, 2009, as part of Miami’s NCAA Team Quarterfinals run in College Station, Texas.
Eichkorn will now meet fourth-seeded Hilary Barte of Stanford in the quarterfinals on Sat., May 29, with a time to be announced later. Barte advanced to quarterfinals by turning in a 6-3, 6-2 decision over 44th-ranked Kristi Boxx of Ole Miss.
In the doubles bracket Friday evening, the sixth-ranked tandem of Gabriela Mejia and Laura Vallverdu earned their 13th consecutive win together, turning in a 7-5, 6-2 line against the University of California’s ninth-ranked team of Mari Andersson and Jana Juricova, the 2009 NCAA Doubles Champions.
After trailing in the early stages of the second set, 2-0, Mejia and Vallverdu won six consecutive games to net their 27th win of the year, improving to 27-5 overall on the 2009-10 campaign. The win was also the 12th of the season against a nationally ranked duo, moving their record to 12-4 on the year in that category.
“Laura and Gabriela played tough tennis today against a very good team,” stated Yaroshuk-Tews. “They came out aggressive, and they really stayed focused throughout the match. I’m just so proud of the way they kept their composure, even when they got down, and continued to play their game.”
In the process, the Mejia/Vallverdu faction became just the third Miami doubles team since 1992 to reach the NCAA Quarterfinals, with the last being Melissa Applebaum and Audra Cohen in 2006. Back in 1986, Miami’s doubles squad of Lise Gregory and Ronnie Reis won the NCAA Doubles title, defeating Trinity’s Rush and Hubert in straight sets (7-6, 6-2).
Mejia and Vallverdu will now meet fourth-seeded Andrea Remynse and Yasmin Schnack of UCLA on Sat., May 29, with a time to be determined later Friday evening. Remynse and Schnack earned a three-set thriller from Princeton’s Hilary Bartlett and Taylor Marable in the “Sweet 16”, with the Tigers’ duo coached by former UM standout Megan Bradley.
With the University of Georgia serving as host for this year’s men’s and women’s championships, all matches are being 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.
