No. 3 Miami Heads to Texas for a Pair of Non-Conference Matches

March 11, 2011

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The third-ranked University of Miami women’s tennis team will travel to Texas this weekend for two more crucial non-conferences matches when it takes on TCU on Saturday and No. 7 Baylor on Monday.

Miami (10-3, 3-1 ACC) is coming off a close 4-3 loss to North Carolina on Wednesday in a match that marked the fourth straight against a Top 25 team for the Hurricanes. The ‘Canes won the first three against No. 4 Michigan, No. 21 Georgia Tech and No. 11 Clemson last week, vaulting them up nine spots in the latest Campbell/ITA rankings.

Tenth-ranked Bianca Eichkorn, the ACC’s reigning player of the week, improved to 12-1 this spring and 4-0 in ACC play with another win in the Hurricanes’ top singles position. Eichkorn easily defeated UNC’s 14th-ranked Zoe De Bruycker, 6-2, 6-0, for her ninth win over a ranked opponent this year.

Her doubles teammate, 75th-ranked Anna Bartenstein, has also been playing her best tennis as of late. She enters the weekend with a record of 8-3 this spring in the No. 2 singles spot, including five straight wins there.

As a team, the 27th-ranked team of Eichkorn and Bartenstein is 11-2 in dual match play in the No. 1 spot.

TCU is 2-5 this spring, while their top singles player – Kateriina Tuohimaa is also 2-5 in the Horned Frogs’ top singles spot. Tuohimaa is, however, 5-2 at No. 1 doubles alongside Federica Denti.

Baylor is 8-2 this spring and 4-1 at home. The Bears have used two different players in the No. 1 position this spring, with Sona Novakova going 5-2 and Diana Nakic going 1-2. In doubles, Nakic and Novakova are 1-2 at No. 1 while Nina Secerbegovic and Jelena Stanivuk are 3-3 in the top spot.

The match on Saturday in Fort Worth is slated for 1 p.m. EST while Sunday’s match in Waco is also slated for 1 p.m. start.

Live stats for both matches are available at HurricaneSports.com. For additional coverage of UM’s women’s tennis team, visit www.TheUTennis.com.