No. 5 Miami Back at Home After Nearly a Month Away

TheUTennis.com l ITA Rankings l ACC Women’s Tennis I Live Results

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – After spending a better part of the last month on the road, the fifth-ranked University of Miami women’s tennis team will return to the Neil Schiff Tennis Center this weekend for a pair of Atlantic Coast Conference matches against No. 36 NC State and No. 50 Wake Forest.

The Hurricanes, who jumped back into the ITA’s Top 5 on Tuesday, are 13-4 overall, 5-1 in ACC play and 7-1 at home this spring.

Miami will open the weekend with the Demon Deacons on Friday at 3 p.m. Two days later, the Wolfpack will visit Coral Gables for a noon match on Sunday.

Both matches are free to the public and students.

Eichkorn in the ACC
Eighth-ranked Bianca Eichkorn has enjoyed plenty of success in her career, as she is now just five more singles victories away from tying the program’s all-time record. But on a closer look, her success specifically against ACC opponents might be the most impressive.

Over her career, Eichkorn is a combined 33-3 against ACC opposition, including a perfect 6-0 mark this season. In fact, Eichkorn has won 16 straight regular season ACC matches entering the weekend, with her last loss in conference play coming on April 19, 2009.

Keep Them Coming
This weekend’s matches will mark the 14th and 15th played against a Top 50 opponent the `Canes will have played this spring. UM is 9-4 against ranked opponents thus far, with four of its five ACC wins having come against Top 25 foes.

Scouting Reports
Wake Forest will enter Friday’s match with an overall record of 6-9 and an ACC mark of 0-5. The Demon Deacons’ top player is 24th-ranked Martina Pavelec, who is 20-7 overall and 11-3 in dual match play at Wake’s No. 1 singles spot. In doubles, Kayla Duncan and Kathyrn Talbert are 8-3 in the Deac’s top doubles position.

NC State, who will play at FSU on Friday before coming down to Coral Gables, is currently 10-5 overall and 1-4 in league play. Sanaa Bhambri (26-7 overall, 10-2 at No. 1) is the Pack’s top singles player, while she has gone 19-6 overall and 6-5 at No. 1 while teaming with Sandhya Nagaraj.

Both Wake Forest and NC State are riding a three-match losing streak coming into the weekend.

Last Road Trip Looms
Following this weekend’s action, Miami will make its final road trip of the regular season when they play at Boston College and Maryland next weekend. The `Canes will first head to Boston, where they will take on the Eagles on April 8 at 1 p.m. Twenty-five hours later, they will be in College Park, Md. to take on the Terps in a 1 p.m. match on April 9.

For addition coverage of the UM women’s tennis team, visit the team’s blog at TheUTennis.com .