Women's Quarterfinals

May 17, 2009

George P. Mitchell Tennis Center

College Station, Texas

#3 DUKE 4, #6 MIAMI 1

RECORDS: Duke 27-3; Miami 26-5

SINGLES

1. (#6) Mallory Cecil, DU def. (#3) Julia Cohen, UM, 6-2, 6-1 2. (#24) Laura Vallverdu, UM def. (#37) Ellah Nze, DU, 6-3, 6-3 3. (#30) Reka Zsilinszka, DU def. (#31) Bianca Eichkorn, UM, 6-4, 6-2 4. (#91) Amanda Granson, DU def. (#49) Michaela Kissell, UM, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 5. (#122) Melissa Mang, DU vs. Gabriela Mejia, UM, 6-2, 3-6, 0-0, DNF 6. Jessi Robinson, DU vs. Claudia Wasilewski, UM, 4-6, 6-3, 0-3, DNF

DOUBLES

1. (#22) Granson/Mang, DU def. (#19) Kissell/Vallverdu, UM, 8-4 2. (#51) Cohen/Eichkorn, UM def. (#53) Robinson/Cecil, DU, 8-1 3. Zsilinszka/Nze, DU def. Mejia/Wasilewski, UM, 8-6

ORDER OF FINISH: Doubles: 2, 1, 3; Singles: 1, 2, 4, 3

NOTES: Duke advances to semifinals for the first time since 2006 and will face winner between No. 2 Georgia and No. 22 South Carolina on Monday at 4 p.m.

QUOTES:

Duke Head Coach Jamie Ashworth: "We played really well. Even (Miami head coach) Paige (Yaroshuk-Tews) turned to me in the middle of the match and said, ‘You guys are playing really well right now.’ I couldn’t be happier with how we came out. I was a little nervous during the doubles, but we did a great job of fighting back. We matched the emotion that Miami had. That was something we talked about the other day and before the match today. I thought we were able to capitalize on winning the doubles point. We got off to some good starts in singles. Amanda Granson at four played an unbelievable match. She lost to that girl twice in a row and just did an unbelievable job. Everyone else, at least the 2, 4, 6, side fed off of her. Mallory (Cecil) played an unbelievable match at one. She’s been a rock there the last 15-16 matches. She sets a good tone for the rest of our team. I’m excited for them. They are really excited to beat a Miami team, 4-1. With the history we’ve had with them, it’s a great thing for our program. We came out a little bit nervous, but we overcame that and played a good solid match 1 through 6. We lost the first set at 6, but Jessi (Robinson) did a good job of keeping her on the court and not letting them get any momentum."

Miami Head Coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews: "Duke just took it to us today. They played great tennis. They really raised their level from the last time that we played them. Starting with one, she’s playing good tennis. (Mallory) Cecil is playing the type of tennis she needs to be playing this time of year. (We are) peaking at the right time, especially at three and five. I was impressed. (Reka) Zsilinszka came out today and seemed like she didn’t want to have a long match, she didn’t want to have a close match. She had a different mentality. Especially at three and five, they were just playing the big points well, the duce points, our ads, never kind of giving us a window. There is not a whole lot to say, other than they just simply out played us today. We didn’t play our best tennis, but Duke had a lot to do with that. They did not give us anything; they definitely played a clean match.

(On going into singles play) "I was very confident going into the singles. I don’t believe that there are too many teams that still can beat us in singles, but like I told the girls, as this tournament progresses, the doubles point is going to become more important. We can’t expect to win the doubles point when we blow a lead at 5-3 at No. 3. When we play the way we did at one, up 30-love in three games, up 4-5 in a couple of games, your not going to win a match playing like that. They don’t deserve to win the doubles point when your constantly blowing leads like that. We still had confidence. We still felt good going into singles. We had our looks on some courts, but hats off to Duke. They played a great match."