Eichkorn Ties Wins Record in No. 5 Miami's Regular Season Finale

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Sixth-ranked Bianca Eichkorn tied a school record with her 131st career singles win as No. 5 Miami dropped a 5-2 decision to No. 3 Duke Friday night at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center. The historic win for Eichkorn came on UM’s Senior Night, as the All-American played her final regular season home match as a Hurricane.

Eichkorn, needing just one win to tie her former teammate Laura Vallverdu’s school record for career victories, cruised to a 6-2, 6-3 win over 38th-ranked Nadine Fahoum to wrap up the ACC season with a perfect 11-0 mark in the No. 1 singles position.

After dropping the doubles point, the Hurricanes (17-5, 9-2 ACC) made things interesting late in singles play, but 18th-ranked Reka Zslinkszka’s 6-3, 6-3 win over 120th-ranked Kayla Rizzolo at No. 3 secured the win for the Blue Devils (21-2, 10-0, ACC).

The Blue Devils claimed an early 1-0 lead after one of the closest double’s points of the season went the way of the Blue Devils.

With Miami winning at No. 1 and Duke at No. 3, the point came down to No. 2 when the Blue Devils’ 81st-ranked team of Hanna Mar and Nadine Fahoum edged out UM’s Gabriela Mejia and Melissa Bolivar, 9-8 (4).

“I think it was a little bit of a disappointing start for us,” Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said. “With the exception of No. 1, I don’t think we were taking care of the details in doubles. There wasn’t enough focusing on us and there was too much focusing on them.”

Duke then took a 2-0 lead when 79th-ranked Mary Clayton downed Melissa Bolivar, 6-3, 6-0 at No. 6.
 
Then came Eichkorn’s historic win followed by 45th-ranked Anna Bartenstein’s 7-5, 6-4 victory at No. 2 over 80th-ranked Ella Nze. The win for Bartenstein was her 13th in her last 14 matches at No. 2

“Going into singles, I think the girls competed well,” Yaroshuk-Tews said. “I think Gaby was able to turn it around in singles. She went out there and competed hard.

“And I am really happy with Bianca tonight for tying the record and finishing strong.”

Unfortunately for Miami, however, Zsilinszka followed shortly thereafter with the match clinching point for the Blue Devils before 58th-ranked Elizabeth Plotkin out-lasted Gabriela Mejia, 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (6) to end the match.

“I was a little disappointed with No. 5 and No. 6 in the second set,” Yaroshuk-Tews said. “This is Miami tennis and we cannot lose sets 6-0 at five or six or in any position for that matter.

“But I think the girls competed hard and you’ve got to give a lot of credit to Duke. I think Duke is a great team. They probably have the deepest team I’ve ever seen them have. They deserved to win the match tonight.”

The Hurricanes will return to the courts next week when the team travels to Cary, N.C. to participate in the 2011 ACC Tennis Championships. Seedings and match times for the tournament are still to be determined.

For additional coverage of the UM women’s tennis team, visit TheUTennis.com .