Before each match, Laura Vallverdu, the University of Miami's superstitious No. 1 player, stops by the same Coral Gables sandwich shop and picks up the same prematch meal -- a power wrap.
On Saturday morning before the Hurricanes played Notre Dame in the NCAA Coral Gables Regional final, Vallverdu had her wrap, but then lost it after her doubles match.
Vallverdu recovered and wrapped up UM's regional championship by defeating Kelcy Tefft in straight sets as the Hurricanes blanked the Irish 4-0.
No. 12 UM (17-5) advances to play No. 5 Baylor in the NCAA tournament's round of 16 in Tulsa, Okla., which begins Thursday.
''The girls played great tennis [Saturday],'' UM coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said. ``We won where we needed to win. The point we won at No. 1 doubles was big. Winning the doubles point playing against Notre Dame was huge. They don't lose a lot of doubles play, and then we turned it around in singles.''
The Hurricanes and the No. 22 Irish (22-9) split the first two doubles matches, leaving Vallverdu and partner Romy Farah in a battle with the No. 3 nationally ranked doubles tandem of Tefft and Brook Buck.
CLINCHING DOUBLES
Vallverdu and Farah led 7-4. The Irish duo narrowed the deficit to 7-6 before Vallverdu and Farah ended the match and won 8-6 to give the Hurricanes the doubles' point.
Following the doubles match just before her singles match began, Vallverdu was feeling nauseated and vomited outside of the court on which she was scheduled to play.
''I ate what I always eat before a match,'' Vallverdu said. ``I'm kind of superstitious. I don't know, maybe it was the heat. I was really feeling [nauseated] and I was sweating a lot.''
Vallverdu composed herself and started the match with Tefft.
Meanwhile, in two of the other five matches, UM was dominating Notre Dame.
In the No. 4 singles match, Bianca Eichkorn breezed past Notre Dame's Colleen Rielley 6-2, 6-2.
Not long after Eichkorn won her match, Farah easily beat Buck 6-3, 6-4.
''[Buck] is a senior that I know real well and I knew what to expect,'' said Farah, who improved to 25-10. ``I've seen her play a lot. I played her in doubles earlier. I got on the court thinking more about me. I know if I'm good and I'm feeling it that day I should not have a problem.''
Farah's win put UM ahead 3-0, needing just one more point to end the Irish's season in the best-of-7 match.
By then Vallverdu had won her first set 6-2 and so had teammate Claudia Wasilewski in the No. 6 match against Katie Potts.
''My team did a really good job by winning two singles matches really fast,'' Vallverdu said. ``I didn't know if I was going to go down, so I was paying attention to Claudia. She won that first set and that helped me a lot, too.''
Wasilewski -- who said she doesn't like it when she can't finish her matches and clinched the match for UM against Quinnipiac on Friday -- would not get the same opportunity on Saturday.
CLOSING IT OUT
Down to Vallverdu early in the second set, Tefft rallied to tie the set 3-3, but that was as close as the Irish's No. 1 player got.
The Hurricanes' top player finished the match by winning the next three games and sending UM to the round of 16 for the fourth time in the past five years.
''I just played my game and tried to fake a little bit that I was feeling bad,'' said Vallverdu, who won her 29th match of the season. ``I tried to play a little bit faster, because she doesn't like that. I was a little tired and nauseous. I tried to win that last set as quickly as I could. I needed to be out there for my team. I just wanted to go to Tulsa.''
