`Canes Open Season Friday at Home Against FAU
Jan. 20, 2011
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami women’s tennis team will open its 2011 season on Friday when it plays host to FAU in a noon match at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center. Admission to the event is free to the public.
The Hurricanes enter the spring season ranked No. 12 nationally by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association and are led three student-athletes currently ranked in the nation’s Top 100 in singles play – senior Bianca Eichkorn (16), junior Anna Bartenstein (98) and sophomore Danielle Mills (99).
Eichkorn, Bartenstein and Mills will be joined in the lineup by junior Gabriela Mejia, who was ranked 83rd nationally in singles play during the fall season. Filling out the rest of a roster is a group of four freshmen – Melissa Bolivar, Brittany Dubins, Bistra Otashlyska and Kayla Rizzolo.
“I’m excited to see our team, especially our new student-athletes perform,” head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said. “The FAU match is important preparation for next weekend’s ITA Kickoff. This is the beginning of what will surely be a very competitive season.”
Last year, Miami went 20-6 and advanced into the NCAA’s “Sweet 16” for the fifth consecutive season and the “Elite Eight” for the third time in the last four years. The 20-win season marked the Hurricanes’ sixth in the last seven years under the direction of Yaroshuk-Tews.
Eichkorn (singles) and Mejia (doubles) earned All-America honors in 2010 along with former teammate Laura Vallverdu, who graduated as the program’s all-time winningest player. Eichkorn – the team’s lone senior – is expected to replace Vallverdu in the No. 1 singles position this year.
“I think everybody is really excited to get out there and get the season started,” Eichkorn said. “We’ve had two great weeks of practice and hopefully that carries over tomorrow.”
Eichkorn, who is 100-22 in singles play her career, enters the season as one of just six student-athletes in school history to record 100-plus wins in a career, joining Vallverdu (131), Audrey Banada (110), Ronnie Reis (103), Lise Gregory (102) and Jodi Appelbaum (101) in elite company.
“We need to start well, be feisty and take this match seriously,” Eichkorn said. “If we don’t give up any easy points and just play our game, the rest will take care of itself.”
Eichkorn and Bartenstein, ranked No. 46 as a doubles tandem heading into the spring, will lead the Hurricanes in doubles play when the match gets underway at noon.
For live results of the match and a complete recap of Friday’s action, visit HurricaneSports.com.
