May 20, 2010
Complete Results
NCAA Championships Round of 16
Site: Athens, Ga. (Dan Magill Tennis Center)
Score: No. 11 Miami (Fla.) 4, No. 6 Northwestern 1
Records: NU (23-7, 9-1 Big Ten), Miami (Fla.) (19-5, 10-1 ACC)
Next NU Event: NCAA Individual Championships May 26-31 Athens, Ga.
ATHENS, Ga. -- Three hours into Northwestern's round of 16 match against Miami (Fla.) in the NCAA Championships, the 11th-ranked Hurricanes had pushed NU to the brink by securing a 3-0 lead. Northwestern held leads on three of the four courts remaining in action but ultimately could not make up the deficit, falling 4-1 at the Dan Magill Tennis Center in Athens.
Each team won three first sets in singles action, but the Hurricanes were able to close out their victories just slightly ahead of the sixth-seeded Wildcats, who were making their seventh consecutive NCAA round of 16 appearance.
"The first games of the match at No. 1 and 2 doubles, both long deuce games, gave you an indication that every point was going to be tough," said NU 12th-year head coach Claire Pollard. "We didn't do a good job of stepping up and taking advantage of our opportunities but Miami did a good job using theirs. There's so many great teams this year and it's so important to everyone here that you have to leave everything you have on the court and I thought we did that."
Northwestern easily recorded the first win of the day with an 8-1 victory at No. 3 doubles by Samantha Murray and Kate Turvy. The match was even at one before the NU tandem took control the rest of the way to improve to 17-2 in dual matches this season.
Despite trailing 3-1 and 4-1 on the first two courts early on, Northwestern had already pulled level at four in both matches by the time Murray and Turvy had closed out their match. Battling for NU at No. 1 was the doubles All-American Lauren Lui and freshman Linda Abu Mushrefova against Miami's sixth-ranked tandem of Gabriela Mejia and Laura Vallverdu. The `Canes were able to take a 6-4 lead and protect it down the stretch to outlast Northwestern 8-5.
It was a different story at No. 2, however, where NU rebounded from a late 6-4 deficit to tie the match and eventually take a 7-6 lead on a strong service game by Elena Chernyakova. But the Hurricanes displayed some resiliency of their own as Anna Bartenstein and Bianca Eichkorn seized an 8-7 lead with a chance to serve out the match. They did just that, handing Chernyakova and Maria Mosolova just their second dual loss of the season.
Northwestern came into the match with a 3-4 record after dropping the doubles point this season and would need to make it 4-4 in order to advance in the Championships. Early returns in singles were split along the top and bottom of the lineup, with Miami winning first sets at the top three spots and Northwestern jumping to leads at No. 4, 5 and 6.
The first match off the courts was the No. 3 contest between 84th-ranked Anna Bartenstein and Northwestern veteran Lauren Lui, who overcame a slow start in the first to battle to a 4-2 lead in the second. But Bartenstein regained her early form to win four straight games and win the match 6-2, 6-4, dealing Lui just the fifth dual loss in 25 matches this season.
The No. 1 match featured a pair of 2009 Honda Sports Award finalists with 13th-ranked Mosolova taking on seventh-ranked Laura Vallverdu, an NCAA finalist from a year ago. The two had never met before and it was Vallverdu who felt most comfortable early on, taking the opening set 6-2. Vallverdu remained in control in the second, putting Miami's third point on the board with her 6-2, 6-3 win.
Northwestern's lone win of the day came at No. 4 courtesy of Turvy as she defeated Danielle Mills, 6-4, 6-2. Turvy finished her freshman year on a nine-match dual singles winning streak to raise her overall record to 27-12.
With first sets in hand at No. 5 and 6, NU saw the senior Murray begin making a charge at 40th-ranked Bianca Eichkorn, who had taken the opening set 6-2. The action went back and forth throughout the second, with Murray taking a 5-4 lead before Eichkorn was able to come all the way back and close out the set 7-5, ending the dual and sending Miami into the NCAA quarterfinals.
The Wildcats, who close another landmark season that included a second straight ITA National Indoor Team championship and a 12th consecutive Big Ten Tournament title, will turn their attention to the NCAA Individual Championships, which begin on Wednesday, May 26 in Athens. Mosolova and Murray will be competing in the singles championship while Lui and Chernyakova are one of 32 duos in the doubles bracket.
No. 11 Miami (Fla.) 4, No. 6 Northwestern 1
Singles
1: #7 Laura Vallverdu (MIA) def. #13 Maria Mosolova (NU), 6-2, 6-3
2: #40 Bianca Eichkorn (MIA) def. #41 Samantha Murray (NU), 6-2, 7-5
3: #84 Anna Bartenstein (MIA) def. Lauren Lui (NU), 6-2, 6-4
4: Kate Turvy (NU) def. Danielle Mills (MIA), 6-4, 6-2
5: Linda Abu Mushrefova (NU) vs. #113 Gabriela Mejia (MIA), 6-2, 2-6, 0-2 unf.
6: Stacey Lee (NU) vs. Claudia Wasilewski (MIA), 7-5, 3-2 unf.
Doubles
1: #6 Mejia/Vallverdu (MIA) def. Abu Mushrefova/Lui (NU), 8-5
2: #36 Bartenstein/Eichkorn (MIA) def. Chernyakova/Mosolova (NU), 9-7
3: Murray/Turvy (NU) def. Mills/Wasilewski (MIA), 8-1
Order of Finish
Singles (3, 1, 4, 2*)
Doubles (3, 1, 2*)