May 11, 2008

Miami Women's Tennis Advancing to Fourth Sweet 16 in Five Seasons

CORAL GABLES, Fla. - The top-seeded and 12th-ranked University of Miami women's tennis team is advancing into the round of 16 of the NCAA Women's Tennis Championship for the fourth time in the last five seasons after beating No. 22 Notre Dame, 4-0, in second round action Saturday afternoon at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center.

Just a day after a 4-0 shutout of Quinnipiac in the first round of the Coral Gables Regional, Miami (17-5) responded with another 4-0 win against the second-seeded Irish (22-9). The victory for the Hurricanes - the ninth in their last 10 matches -propels UM into the round of 16 for the third straight season.

With Miami up 3-0, sophomore All-American Laura Vallverdu sealed the match for the Hurricanes with a 6-2, 6-3 win over No. 56 Kelcy Tefft in the top singles position. The win for Vallverdu - currently ranked No. 19 in singles play - was her 16th victory in her last 18 matches in UM's top singles spot.

Third-Seeded Yellow Jackets Punch Ticket to Tulsa with 4-0 Win Over Tennessee

ATLANTA - Noelle Hickey teamed with Whitney McCray for a comeback win in doubles play before clinching match point with a straight-set victory at No. 6 singles to help third-ranked Georgia Tech (21-5) to a 4-0 win over No. 25 Tennessee (15-10) Saturday afternoon at the Bill Moore Tennis Center.

With the victory, the Yellow Jackets punched their ticket to the NCAA Round of 16 for the third-straight year, and will face Texas Thursday at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Tulsa.

The Yellow Jackets captured the doubles point when Hickey and McCray completed a comeback win at the No. 2 position after the two teams split matches on courts one and three. Hickey and McCray fell behind, 1-6, but won five-straight games to tie the match at 6-6 before pulling out a 9-7 victory against Ghizela Schutte and Rosalia Alda to capture the doubles point.

Clemson Defeats Michigan; Advances to Round of 16 in NCAA Tournament

Two top-20 teams, Clemson and Michigan, met in the second round of the NCAA Women's Tennis Tournament on Saturday afternoon, with Clemson grinding out a 4-1 victory. The Tigers advance to Tulsa, OK for the round of 16 and will play the winner of the Texas A&M and Stanford matchup on Thursday.

Clemson jumped on the board first, winning the doubles point. Ina Hadziselimovic and Alexandra Luc started off the run, defeating Michigan's Lindsey Howard and Denise Muresan 8-5. The Tigers clinched the point when the nation's fourth-ranked tandem of Ani Mijacika and Carol Salge downed the 40th-ranked duo Tania Mahtani and Chisako Sugiyama, 8-5.

Mijacika, the second-ranked player in the nation defeated 50th ranked Sugiyama 6-0, 6-4 to put the Tigers ahead 2-0. The win was her 17th this season against a ranked opponent, improving her overall mark to 28-6.

Duke Women's Tennis Advances to NCAA Sweet 16

DURHAM, N.C. - The No. 9 Duke women's tennis team claimed a 1-0 victory over No. 24 William & Mary in the NCAA Tournament second round on Saturday to advance to the Sweet 16.

The Blue Devils got off to a good start with strong showings in doubles at the No. 2 and 3 spots. Ellah Nze and Reka Zsilinszka cruised to an 8-2 win over Carmen Pop and Lauren Sabacinski at No. 3 to start the day. Tara Iyer and Jessi Robinson then finished off Ragini Acharya and Klaudyna Kasztelaniec, 8-2, in the No. 2 slot to clinch the doubles point.

Duke got off to an equally good beginning in singles and looked as though they were going to run away with the match. Melissa Mang and Amanda Granson each swept their first sets, 6-0, while Iyer and Nze won 6-2 to start off singles.

The only first sets the Tribe were able to win were at the No. 3 and No. 6 spots. One of those was by Pop at the No. 6 position. She went on to even the team score at 1-1 with a straight-set win over Jessi Robinson 7-5, 6-0.

No. 14 Tar Heels Ousted By No. 17 Arkansas In Epic Match

CHAPEL HILL --- No. 14 North Carolina mounted an incredible rally from a 2-0 hole but ultimately came up short as the Tar Heels fell to No. 17 Arkansas, 4-3, on a blustery evening at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center. Carolina's season ends at 18-9, while the Lady Razorbacks will travel to Tulsa, Okla., for the NCAA Sweet 16. Carolina sophomore Sanaz Marand finished her incredible sophomore season with a record of 24-1 in dual match play and a second straight win over the nation's top player.

Arkansas (17-9) captured what proved to be the decisive doubles point with a pair of tight wins at the top two positions. In a matchup of top-30 tandems, the Lady'Backs' 29th-ranked pair of Aurelija Miseviciute and Ela Kaluder topped No. 15 Marand and Sophie Grabinski, 8-5, at No. 1. Maryori Franco and Nanar Airapetian then finished off No. 58 Austin Smith and Katrina Tsang, 8-6, to clinch the point.

Singles action would last almost three hours, and all six courts were still occupied after nearly two hours. Arkansas finally took a 2-0 lead when Anouk Tigu finished her win over No. 94 Smith at No. 3, 6-4, 6-2. At that point, Carolina had dropped the opening set on four of six courts and look to be on the verge of getting swept. But Grabinski pulled away from Audrey Bordeleau at No. 5 to score a 7-5, 6-2 win and put UNC on the board.

No. 15 Florida State Falls In Final Match To No. 19 Texas 5-2

Tallahassee, Fla. - The No. 15 Florida State women's tennis team took their final curtain call beneath the lights of the Scott Speicher Tennis Center in an upsetting 5-2 loss to No. 19 Texas. Although the end result wasn't what the Seminoles wanted, the team still gave the home crowd something to be proud of in their last match of what's been a historical season.

Florida State's dreams of making a program-first trip to the NCAA Championship's third round came down to the final two matches. After a grueling five hours of tennis, the ebb and flow of both teams boiled down to the heart of their line-ups.

On court three, FSU's Carolin Walter and Stephanie Davison of UT were in a third-set tie-breaker at the same time Florida State's Jessica Wente and Texas' Caroline Larsson were battling out the last few games of their third set.

The end result on both courts was not what Florida State would have hoped for. Walter came up short in the tie-breaker, losing the match 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(5) moments after Wente gave up the final point in her third set to fall 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.