No. 13 Miami Women Top No. 47 Utah, 7-0, at Indoor Qualifier
Jan. 31, 2009
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Coral Gables, Fla. – The 13th-ranked University of Miami improved to 4-0 by using straight-set wins across the board in singles play Saturday sweeping 47th-ranked Utah, 7-0, in opening-round action of the Women’s Tennis ITA National Indoor Qualifier Kick-Off at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center in Coral Gables, Fla. UM is serving as one of 15 host sites for this weekend’s kick-off action.
Miami (4-0) jumped on the board 1-0 in the doubles portion by taking two-of-three matches over Utah (1-2), collecting wins at No. 1 and No. 2 respectively.
Sophomore Julia Cohen and junior Laura Vallverdu teamed at No. 1 to take down Anastasia Putilina and Lisa Johnson, 8-4, improving to 4-0 on the year together. The Utes went up 2-0 in the match before Miami rolled off three consecutive games to go up, 3-2. Utah broke Miami’s serve for the second time in the match, equaling the score at 3-3 before the Hurricanes returned the favor to go back up, 4-3. Three consecutive games were awarded to the `Canes duo as they went up 7-3.
Trailing 40-0 in the next set, Miami battled back to deuce before Utah secured the win and made it 7-4. Miami then wasted little time in the eventual final set to collect the 8-4 decision.
At No. 2 doubles, the quickest match of the year in doubles play so far for the Hurricanes ensued as the No. 14 ranked team of Miami’s Bianca Eichkorn and Michaela Kissell took a commanding 8-0 victory over Utah’s Evgenia Kryuchkova and Leigh Walsh. The match took just 29 minutes as the Orange and Green powered their way to 4-0 on the spring campaign.
With the doubles point already in favor of the `Canes, the Utes were determined to grab a win at No. 3 as Erin Monson and Karine Bourdages grabbed an 8-5 decision over Miami’s team of Alessa Waibel and Claudia Wasilewski. The UM pair has lost their last two doubles matches, and falls to 1-2 in the spring together.
In singles action, two-time All-American Laura Vallverdu (No. 114) was in rare form as she breezed through Utah’s Evgenia Kryuchkova in straight-sets, 6-1, 6-0 at the No. 2 position. The Valencia, Venezuela junior looked like a machine as she has not allowed an opponent over a game in any set so far on the spring campaign. With her win, she improved to 4-0 in the spring, and 6-3 overall.
The No. 3 position was dominated as well, with UM sophomore Michaela Kissell–ranked No. 50 in the country, steam-rolling her way to a 6-0, 6-0 sweep of Erin Monson. Kissell’s powerful shots and devastating serve had Monson off-kilter all morning, as the Hostetter, Pennsylvania native trailed just five times in the match, period. She was getting out in front of Monson, and never looking back en route to her fourth-straight win of the spring, keeping her record clean in dual play and improving to a team second-best 14-5 record on the year.
The No. 4 position was just as strong for the Orange and Green with fellow sophomore Bianca Eichkorn sweeping Lisa Johnson, 6-0, 6-0. Eichkorn, ranked No. 20 in the nation, bounced back from her loss on Wednesday at the No. 3 position to FIU’s Mariana Muci (6-4, 6-4) by upping her record for the year at a team-best 18-5 mark. She was in control the entire match, and used speed and precision to collect the win, placing shots to the corners and hitting rockets down the line for points all match.
An exciting match ensued at the No. 5 position, as Hurricanes’ junior Claudia Wasilewski and Utah’s Leigh Walsh were locked in a great battle.
Walsh broke Wasilewski’s serve to take a 2-1 lead before the Boulogne, France native (Wasilewski) returned the favor and went on a feverish run to take the first set, 6-2. After Wasilewski went up 2-0 in the second set, Walsh tied things up at 2-2. They traded points to knot again, 3-3, before Wasilewski went up for good en route to the final 6-4 advantage. The match scores were 6-2, 6-4, giving the junior a 4-0 record in the spring (9-4 overall).
At No. 1 singles, No. 8 Julia Cohen went up 4-0 in the first set before the Utes’ Anastasia Putilina roared back to make it 5-4. Cohen, who seemed a bit overwhelmed by the comeback, used some quick advice from eighth-year head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews during the break, and then quickly embarked on a rampage, winning the final point, set-15.
In the second set, the two combatants stood tied at 4-4 when Cohen broke-serve to go up5-4. She blazed her way through the final game to collect her fourth-straight win of the season, keeping her spring slate clean at 4-0 (10-2 overall). The Philadelphia product, similar to Kissell and her doubles partner–Vallverdu, has yet to drop a set this spring. She used scores of 6-4, 6-4 to defeat Putilina.
Freshman Alessa Waibel collected a win in the No. 6 spot for UM, defeating Lexi Provancha on scores of 6-3, 6-2 in order to up her record for the spring out to 2-0. She has won her last two matches including a three-set affair versus FIU on Wednesday.
Miami will now await the winner of this afternoon’s match between No. 23 Tennessee and No. 28 Virginia. UM will play in the championship match of the Coral Gables Qualifier on Sunday at 1 p.m. back at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center. The consolation match with Utah versus the loser of the Tennessee/Virginia match will take place at 10 a.m.
For more information on the ITA and the entire Kick-Off weekend for the ITA National Indoor Qualifier, please locate your internet browser to www.itatennis.com.
For more information on the University of Miami women’s tennis team, please locate your internet browser to www.hurricanesports.com – the official athletic website for all varsity sports for the University of Miami Hurricanes.
