Eichkorn, Bartenstein Ready for NCAA Individual Championships
Note: Shortly after singles play got underway Wednesday morning, rain forced a delay that has resulted in matches being pushed back. Anna Bartenstein lost her match to 10th-ranked Maria Mosolova in three sets Wednesday afternoon, while Bianca Eichkorn is currently scheduled to play at 7 p.m. PST. Click here for live video and scoring of her match.
STANFORD, Calif. – The University of Miami’s Bianca Eichkorn and Anna Bartenstein learned their opponents for the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships on Tuesday morning, a day before singles competition gets underway at the Taube Tennis Center.
Eichkorn and Bartenstein will both be competing in the 64-player singles draw, while the teammates will also pair up to participate in the 32-team doubles field.
In Wednesday’s singles first round, Eichkorn – the tournament’s seventh-seeded player – will face Florida’s Lauren Embree at 9:30 p.m. EST, while Bartenstein is scheduled to take on Northwestern’s Maria Mosolova earlier in the day at 2:30 p.m. EST.
“Obviously we have two strong opponents in front of us in singles with Embree and Mosolova,” head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said. “I think it’s important that Bianca comes out with Embree and has the mentality to play some long points. She should expect a long match, not go for shots too early and try not to look for something that isn’t there. It will be important for her to get out there, find her rhythm and when given the opportunity to attack, she needs to take it.
“As far as Anna’s match, I think it is going to be important for her to play within herself. She needs to dictate play, jump on serves and focus on her type of tennis.”
In doubles, Miami is seeded in the 5-8 group and will face VCU’s Alex Bara and Kateryna Yergina on Thursday in the first round at a time yet to be determined.
“I think they are playing some of the best doubles I have seen them play in a long time,” Yaroshuk-Tews said. `We don’t know a lot about the VCU team but obviously they are solid if they made it to this point. It’s going to be a matter of us playing our game style.”
Eichkorn enters the NCAA Championships ranked sixth nationally in singles play, while Bartenstein comes in ranked 36th. As a team, the duo is the fifth-ranked tandem in the country.
Bartenstein comes into the tournament as one of the more dominant players in the country over the latter part of the season, as the junior from Graz, Austria has won 16 of her last 17 matches in the Canes’ No. 2 singles spot. On the year, she is 24-6 overall and 19-4 in dual match play for UM.
Eichkorn – the 2011 ACC Player of the Year and Miami’s all-time wins leader – enters the week with an overall record of 33-8 and a dual match mark of 22-4 at No. 1. Eichkorn has won 18 of her last 21 overall and is 16-6 against nationally-ranked opponents this season. Last season, the senior from Tengen, Germany reached the quarterfinals of the singles draw.
Together, Eichkorn and Bartenstein are 31-4 overall and an impressive 24-2 in Miami’s top doubles position. The pair is riding a 13-match winning streak and boasts a record of 14-3 against ranked doubles teams this spring.
For live scoring of all of the singles and doubles matches, click here.
For additional coverage of the Canes at the NCAA Championships, click here.
