May 22, 2008

• 2008 ACC Women's Tennis Championship Photos (Available for Purchase)

Clemson's Mijacika and Salge Advance In NCAA Singles Tournament

TULSA, Okla. - Clemson women's tennis players Ani Mijacika and Carol Salge reached the second round of the NCAA Singles Championships with wins on Wednesday at the Michael T. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, OK. The duo will also begin competition in the doubles tournament on Thursday.

Mijacika, the #2 seed in the singles tournament, advanced with a straight-set win over 22nd-ranked Anastasia Petukhova of Fresno State. Petukhova held serve for the first game of the match and the two players traded games until Mijacika broke to go ahead, 3-2. The Tiger sophomore recorded another break to win the set, 6-3. Mijacika then easily claimed the second set, 6-1, to finish the match in just over an hour.

She improved to 29-7 on the year and will face #44 Tatsiana Uvarova of Virginia Commonwealth in the round of 32 on Thursday.

Salge rallied for a three-set win over #32 Samantha Murray of Northwestern to extend her winning streak to 12 straight, dating back to Mar. 7. Murray won the first set, 6-4, but Salge rebounded to post the 6-3 victory in the second. With the set tied at 3-3, Salge broke Murray's serve to take the lead. She then won the next two games to claim the set and match, 6-3.

Georgia Tech's McDowell & Miller Advance at NCAA Singles Championships

TULSA, Okla. - Yellow Jacket women's tennis standouts Amanda McDowell and Kristi Miller have advanced to the second round of the 2008 NCAA Singles Championships after opening the individual tournament with first round victories Wednesday afternoon at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Tulsa.

McDowell, seeded seventh in the 2008 NCAA Singles Championships, recovered after dropping her first set to Vanderbilt's Amanda Taylor to pull out a 1-6, 7-6, 6-1 victory to advance to a second-round match against South Carolina's Gira Schofield, scheduled for Thursday afternoon.

Miller, also one of the top-16 seeds in the tournament, made easy work of Arizona's Danielle Steinberg with a 6-3, 6-3 win in the first round, and will square off against California's Claire Ilcinkas in the round of 32 Thursday.

Three other Yellow Jackets also earned bids to the 2008 NCAA Singles Championships, but only McDowell and Miller were able to advance.

Duke's Zsilinszka Advances in NCAA Singles Championships

TULSA, Okla. - Duke women's tennis players Reka Zsilinszka and Ellah Nze were in action Wednesday in the first round of the NCAA Singles Championships at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla. with Zsilinszka advancing to the second round.

Zsilinszka, a freshman from Fayetteville, N.C., played this afternoon and came away with a victory. Ranked No. 24 in the ITA singles rankings, Zsilinszka took on No. 37 Venise Chan. The score was close midway through the first set but Zsilinszka quickly turned a 3-2 lead into a 6-2 victory. In the second set, Chan was on serve with the score tied at 5-5 when Zsilinszka broke serve to take a 6-5 lead. She was then able to serve it out for the 6-2, 7-5 straight set victory.

"I played earlier in the day and it was real windy so it made the ball fly on one side and not on the other," said Zsilinszka. "I just tried to keep the ball in the court like I always do. When it was 5-5 I was on the worst side of the court so I had to feed her short balls and luckily she missed a couple of shots."

Miami's Laura Vallverdu Advances To NCAA Singles Round of 32

TULSA, Okla. - University of Miami sophomore All-American Laura Vallverdu won her first career match in NCAA singles competition with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Stanford's Jessica Nguyen Wednesday afternoon in first action of the 2008 NCAA Women's Tennis Singles and Doubles Championship at the University of Tulsa's Michael D. Case Tennis Center.

The win for No.19 Vallverdu - her 17th in her last 19 matches - moves her into Thursday's round of 32 where she will face No. 49 Gabriela Niculescu of Southern Cal, who defeated Florida State's No. 27 Katie Rybakova in a close 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (8) first round battle also on Wednesday.

Vallverdu (30-9) gained control of the match early on against No. 13 Nguyen (28-10), taking a quick 5-0 lead in the first set. After Nguyen cut the score to 5-1, Vallverdu put her away moments later for the 6-1 first-set win. In the second, Nguyen got out to a 3-2 lead midway through the set before Vallverdu won four straight games to take the second set, 6-3.

Seminoles' Rybakova Falls In First Round of NCAA Singles Tournament

TULSA, Okla. - Freshman Katie Rybakova did not get the appropriate ending to what's been a fairytale season, but the rookie from Coral Springs, Fla., put up a tough fight before succumbing to USC's Gabriela Niculescu 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(10-8)in the first round of the NCAA Singles Championship.

"It was a heartbreaking loss for Katie today no question," said head coach Jennifer Hyde. "I'm really proud of her. Anytime a freshman goes into a championship environment there might be some jitterbugs, but she did a great job calming herself through the duration of the match. She took her time and didn't allow things to get away from her mentally or emotionally."

Rybakova fell behind in the first set, eventually falling 4-6. But the Russian-native rallied back in the second set to post a 6-4 win and force a third set.

North Carolina Advances Two to the Round of 32

Sanaz Marand def. Caitlin Whoriskey (Tennessee): 6-2, 6-1
Katrina Tsang def. Cristina Visico (California): 7-5, 6-3

More to follow...