Canes drop Bruins 4-2, advance to quarterfinals rematch

No. 6 Miami earned singles wins on courts two through five to advance to the NCAA Quarterfinals with a 4-2 victory over defending champion and No. 11 UCLA Friday afternoon at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station, Texas.

The Hurricanes (26-4) fell behind early after losing the doubles point to the Bruins (19-7), but rallied with straight-set victories from junior Laura Vallverdu, sophomores Bianca Eichkorn and Michaela Kissell and freshman Gabriela Mejia.

“I thought the girls got off to a fairly good start even though doubles didn’t go our way,” head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said. “I was happy with their energy. They stayed calm, and we knew coming into today’s match that we needed to stay calm and be successful.”

Eichkorn clinched UM’s 15th win in its last 16 matches.

“I try not to pay too much attention to the score,” said Eichkorn, who passed Megan Bradley’s junior season record for third place all-time at UM for wins in a single season. “The first time that I really noticed that it might come down to me was when (Gabriela Mejia) finished her singles match, and we had three
points.”

Miami will face No. 3 Duke at 1 p.m. Sunday in a rematch of the ACC Championship game when the Blue Devils (26-3) clinched the title with sophomore Reka Zsilinszka’s win over Eichkorn, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5), in the third position. The Canes had beaten Duke 5-2 back on March 22.

Singles
1. #15 Yasmin Schnack (UCLA) def. #3 Julia Cohen (UM) 6-1, 6-4
2. #24 Laura Vallverdu (UM) def. #57 Andrea Remynse (UCLA) 6-1, 6-1
3. #31 Bianca Eichkorn (UM) def. #114 Maya Johansson (UCLA) 7-5, 6-3
4. #49 Michaela Kissell (UM) def. Nina Pantic (UCLA) 6-2, 6-4
5. Gabriela Mejia (UM) def. Ashley Joelson (UCLA) 6-1, 6-4
6. Claudia Wasilewski (UM) vs. Carling Seguso (UCLA) 3-6, 6-3, 3-3 DNF

Doubles
1. #3 Remynse/Schnack (UCLA) def. #19 Kissell/Vallverdu (UM) 8-4
2. #51 Cohen/Eichkorn (UM) def. #66 Seguso/Stephanie Wetmore (UCLA) 8-3
3. Joelson/Pantic (UCLA) def. Mejia/Wasilewski (UM) 8-3

Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (2,4,5,1,3)