Urbina Captures Bronze at World University Games
Aug 20, 2011 | Women's Tennis
"My goal when I got here was to get a medal and I did it!" Urbina wrote in an email sent moments before participating in the medal presentation ceremony. "As an athlete, you train and practice to live these types of moments. All the hard work is worth it!
"Winning a medal means a lot to me because the medal is not only for you, it is for your country and for the team that is supporting you during the tournament. This has been a big accomplishment for my career and for my future, and it has been an honor to play in China and to represent my country"
Urbina, from Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, and Pulido, a Mexico native who competes for USC, began the tournament with a come-from-behind 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 first-round victory against USA's Krista Damico (Univ. of Texas) and Courtney Collins (Univ. of Memphis) at Longgang Tennis Center.
The unseeded duo then knocked of the tournament's No. 1 seed, Chinwei Chan and Wenhsin Hsu of Chinese Taipei, 7-5, 6-3, in the second round to advance to the quarterfinal.
"When we played the number one seed, we played really well," Urbina said. "We knew that they were good players and that we had to do our best in order to win the match. That match gave us a lot of confidence in our games, and it helped us to win the next match."
Urbina and Pulido, both juniors in the upcoming school year, carried over the momentum and once again proved their resiliency in the following match, defeating No. 5 seed Olga Brozda and Natalia Kolat of Poland, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, to advance to the semifinals of the 27-team field and guarantee a medal for Mexico.
Urbina and Pulido's strong run came to an end just short of the championship match as they dropped a hard-fought battle to Guo and Li from host China, 7-6 (6), 6-3, in the semifinals.
"The difference in the semifinal was that we weren't aggressive on the important points, and we didn't take risks on those points," Urbina said. "We also missed a lot of returns, something that we did well in the other matches. We obviously wanted to play the final, but we are still happy because we are bringing a medal to Mexico. We had fun playing together."
Urbina, who competed for Mexico at the Fed Cup held in Argentina in February and has aspirations of competing for her home country in the Olympics some day, elaborated about her experiences and observations away from the court while at the World University Games:
"My experience at the village has been awesome! I have met a lot of athletes from other countries and other sports, which is something really cool. The Chinese people have been so kind and helpful with all of us. They are always willing to help you even though they don't speak English.
"We have felt like celebrities in China, and after Valeria and I finished our semifinal match, they took a lot of pictures of us and they asked us for a bunch of autographs, so we have been very happy in China.
"The facilities are great. The track and field stadium is awesome; it's so big! The tennis courts are great. We got to play the semifinal on the stadium, which was very exciting. I didn't know how the weather was going to be here, but it is very similar to Aggieland. It's so hot and humid, which makes tennis more challenging. Thankfully I'm used to this type of weather."
Urbina, a two-time All-Big 12 Conference selection in singles, played No. 1 singles for the Aggies in 2011 and received a second consecutive at-large berth to the NCAA Singles Championship. She was as high as No. 11 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings midway through the spring and finished the year ranked No. 29 after going 28-10 (.737) overall, including 16-8 against ranked opponents.
Urbina helped lead the Aggies to a 15-9 final record and a 12th consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament, where the Aggies fell to SMU, 4-3, in the first round. She went 16-6 in dual matches all at the No. 1 line.
