May 21, 2009

Miami Women Enjoy Sweet Day Riding Into Round of 16
The University of Miami women's tennis team will be represented by three singles players and a doubles pair in the Round of 16 at the NCAA Women's Tennis Singles/Doubles Championships with four wins coming on Wednesday, May 21 at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station, Texas.

For the first time in school history, Miami will have three singles players representing the Hurricanes in the Round of 16 at the NCAA Women's Tennis Singles Championships. It is the first time that two or more Hurricanes have been in the Round of 16 since 1985 when Ronnie (Reis) Bernstein and Lise Gregory accomplished the feat.

Bianca Eichkorn, ranked No. 31 and competing in her first-ever NCAA Singles Championships, stepped into the Round of 16 first with a convincing 6-1, 6-1 upset of UCLA's 15th-ranked Yasmin Schnack. This is the second time in less than a week Eichkorn has taken down a Bruins player, triumphing over No. 114 Maya Johansson in straight sets (7-5, 6-3) in Miami's Round of 16 win last week as part of the team tournament. 

Cecil, Nze, Zsilinszka Move On To Round of 16
All three members of the Duke University women’s tennis team advanced to the round of 16 in the NCAA Individual Tournament singles competition. The Blue Devils also opened doubles action this afternoon at the George P. Mitchell Center in College Station, Texas.

Rookie Mallory Cecil and sophomores Ellah Nze and Reka Zsilinszka all won in straight sets to move into the round of 16 for the Blue Devils. This marks the first time since 1997 Duke has advanced at least three players to the round of 16.

In doubles action, the tandem of Melissa Mang and Amanda Granson fell to Nadine Farhoum and Charleen Haarhoff of Old Dominion in a tough three-set match, 6-7, 6-3, 6-1. The duo closes out their season with a 25-14 record overall.

Tigers Advance In NCAA Singles And Doubles On Thursday
The Clemson women's tennis team advanced a singles player and a doubles team into their respective NCAA rounds of 16 on Thursday afternoon at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center. Rookie Josipa Bek won her second-round match-up in singles play and then returned to the court just hours later to post an upset in doubles action with partner Ina Hadziselimovic.

The day's news was not all good for the Tiger program as fourth-seeded Ani Mijacika suffered a defeat in singles and fell in the doubles tournament with Keri Wong as well.

Bek avenged last week's loss to Notre Dame's Kristy Frilling in the team tournament with a straight set victory on Thursday. She recorded a break early in the first set and held her serve throughout. Bek again broke Frilling's serve in the final game for the 6-3 win. The Tiger rookie then jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the second before the Irish freshman won back-to-back games to narrow the margin. However, Bek managed another break to clinch the victory for her 34th win of the season, moving her into a tie for ninth place for wins in a single season in school history. 

Marand Through To Round Of Sixteen
North Carolina junior Sanaz Marand scored a straight-set win for the second straight day Thursday to advance to the third round of the NCAA Women's Tennis Singles Championship at Texas A&M's Mitchell Tennis Center. Marand defeated Arizona's Natasha Marks, 6-3, 7-5, and will face Furman's Laura Gioia in the round of 16.

Marand is into the third round of the event for the first time in her career and has now earned All-America honors in singles for the second straight year. After taking the first set, 6-3, the Katy, Texas, junior fell behind 4-1 in the second and the match appeared to be heading toward a third. But Marand won five of the next six games to take the second set, 7-5, and move into the round of 16 where she will meet Gioia, a 6-4, 6-1 winner over Cal's Mari Andersson.

The victory makes Marand the first Tar Heel in the round of 16 since Kate Pinchbeck advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals in 2002. She is also the first two-time singles All-America performer since Pinchbeck in 2002 and 2003. 

Seminole Falls In Tough Battle At NCAA Women's Tennis Singles Championship
In one of her best performances of the season, freshman Noemie Scharle fell in a heartbreaking lost to the No. 1 player in the country, Maria Mosolova of Northwestern, in a three-set battle at the Georgia P. Mitchell Tennis Center. What began with the nation’s top 64 players in the country will now slim down to the top 16 student-athletes vying to be crowned as the 2009 NCAA Women’s Tennis Singles Champion.

The Seminole kicked-off the exciting day in the first match in the round of 32 facing the nation’s top athlete in Mosolova who entered the match against Scharle with an impressive 31-7 record this season. Scharle started off the battle strong from the start as she dominated Mosolova 6-3 in the first set to give her an extra boost into the second set.

After swapping leads in the second set, Mosolova was too much for Scharle as she fell 4-6 to push the match into a third set. Scharle knew she had to continue fighting if she still wanted a chance at winning. However, things started to look grim for the Seminole as an injury began to show itself. Scharle was able to fight back and tie the score 5-5, but the momentum slowly slipped away as Mosolova won the next game to take the lead and then closed out the match with a 7-5 victory.

Yellow Jackets Fall on Second Day of NCAA Individual Championships
After a long day of competition, the final member's of the Georgia Tech women's tennis team still in the field lost Thursday at the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships in College Station, Texas.

In the singles draw, Amanda McDowell's bid to win back-to-back NCAA singles titles came to an end when she dropped a 6-4, 6-4 decision to No. 5-seeded Mallory Cecil of Duke.

Senior Christy Striplin fell to Florida's Marrit Boonstra, 6-1, 6-4, to end her quest for a singles title in her final season on the Flats. The Birmingham, Ala., native closed out her career with 117 career singles wins, good for second all-time in the Yellow Jacket record books.