Jan. 21, 2008

Florida State Concludes Successful Week in Hawaii

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Florida State made its way back to Tallahassee yesterday after a successful showing at the 2008 Hawaii Spring Invitational in Honolulu. The No. 20-ranked Seminoles closed out the three-day tournament with a wildly successful 6-1 singles outing, finalizing their singles record for the tournament at 15-6.

Senior No. 60-ranked Carolin Walter and sophomore Jessica Wente both swept the singles courts, going 3-0 for the tournament. Walter posted her last win over Alica Tunaru of Alabama in a tough 6-7, 7-6, 6-1 match on Friday while Wente took her final win over Hawaii's own Natasha Zorec 6-4, 6-3.

Fellow sophomore Lauren Macfarlane defeated Sophie Kobuch of Hawaii 7-5, 6-0, leaving her with a 2-1 record at the tournament as her one loss came in an achingly close 7-6(3), 6-7(4), 6-2 battle against Sacramento State's No. 63-ranked Katrina Zheltova on the first day of the tournament.

Vallverdu, Farah Again Lead No. 11 Miami To Strong Showing

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Laura Vallverdu and Romy Farah completed a perfect opening weekend in singles play in leading the No. 11 University of Miami women's tennis team to another impressive performance on the final day of the FGCU/Johan Kriek Classic in Fort Myers Monday.

The Hurricanes, who won four of five singles matches against No. 52 Ohio State and all three doubles matches versus host Florida Gulf Coast Monday, finished the four-day event with a mark of 23-4 in singles play and 11-1 in doubles action to open the season on a commanding note.

"We played 39 overall matches as a team this weekend in pretty tough conditions and I was impressed with the way our team presented themselves," head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said. "Playing four consecutive days coming off of winter break is a great test for any program. We definitely have a lot of work ahead of us but I think it's something that this team will welcome."

No. 12 UNC Drops Marathon Match at No. 22 Tennessee

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - No. 22 Tennessee captured the doubles point and rallied for a win at No. 6 singles to claim a 4-3 win over No. 12 North Carolina in women's tennis action Monday at the Goodfriend Tennis Center. No. 14 Sanaz Marand, No. 72 Austin Smith and Jelena Durisic captured singles win in the match, which stretched beyond seven hours.

Sophomore Katrina Tsang and junior Laura Reichert opened doubles play with a convincing 8-2 win at No. 3. After UT tied the score with an 8-5 win at No. 2, it would go down to the top position to determine the point. In a matchup that has played out three times already in 2007-08, No. 2 Caitlin Whoriskey and Zsofia Zubor outlasted UNC's No. 8 duo of Marand and Sophie Grabinski, 9-7, to give the Lady Vols a 1-0 lead. The two teams had split a pair of meetings during the fall season.

UNC quickly evened the score with a rout at No. 2 singles by Marand. The Katy, Texas, product topped Connor Vogel, 6-2, 6-0 to tie the match at 1. Durisic scored a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 win over Samantha Orlin at No. 4 to give Carolina the lead, and Smith extended the lead with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Ghizela Schutte at No. 3.