CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The roster spot of Audra Cohen still sits vacant in the Northwestern women’s tennis program. And while another player eventually will come along to fill Cohen’s scholarship, the void of talent and personality won’t be filled anytime soon.

What became the Wildcats’ loss last summer has quickly become the Miami Hurricanes’ gain.

The reigning NCAA singles runner-up decided to leave NU at the conclusion of her phenomenal freshman year, wanting to return to her native South Florida.

Better yet for Cohen, Paige Yaroshuk-Tews, Miami’s women’s tennis coach, still had one opening on her roster.

“Whenever you get a player of her level, it’s a huge impact,” said Yaroshuk-Tews, who admitted she was shocked when Cohen’s release came across her fax machine in early June. “She’s been doing an incredible job.”

Following a serious operation on her lower back, Cohen has returned to her original form – and then some.

She is ranked No. 2 nationally in singles and fills half of the No. 5 doubles lineup with teammate Melissa Applebaum. Cohen also has gone undefeated in Atlantic Coast Conference play.

“She’s definitely one of the best players in college right now,” Applebaum said. “Who wouldn’t be excited to have her join their team?”

In her freshman season with the Cats last year, Cohen won her first 23 collegiate matches en route to becoming just the eighth player in the modern era to earn at least 50 wins. She also was ranked No. 1 in singles for two months and was named the ITA National Rookie of the Year and Big Ten Athlete of the Year.

The most surprising element of her time with the Cats, though, is the fact she played with two fractures of her lumbar-3 and a hematoma in her nerve canal for much of the season.

Since doctors told her the injury could not get any worse by continuing to compete, Cohen forged on, despite the incredible pain and being unable to sit down at any point during her matches because of “sleepy legs.” Due to the hematoma’s pressure on her spine, Cohen’s legs would fall asleep almost immediately upon sitting down.

The agony reached its apex during the NCAA tournament in May, forcing Cohen to take high doses of muscle relaxants to get through all her matches.

While Cohen managed to overcome the anguish from her back, she could not come to grips with the continued deterioration of her relationship with head coach Claire Pollard. By the second or third day of NCAAs, Cohen said she had decided to transfer

“I didn’t really get along with (head coach) Claire (Pollard), and assistant coach (Leigh Weinraub) was leaving,” said Cohen while sitting under the warm Florida sunshine on some picnic tables near the Hurricanes’ tennis center. “Leigh was primarily my coach there. Leigh did all of my on-court coaching and a lot of just getting me prepared for matches in practice.

“I’m a very, very mental player. Everything for me mentally has to be solid for me to physically perform, and (Pollard’s) the opposite. It’s more you take care of everything physically and the mental just comes with being ready physically.”

Any rumor of disputes with teammates are completely false. Cohen said her relationship with NU doubles partner Cristelle Grier was one of her strongest bonds on the team.

“It’s hard for me to have had to say to her I have to leave because of me and make it not seem as selfish as it is,” said Cohen, who still chats with many of her former teammates online.

“We’re very different people. (It) was funny because she’s really conservative and very subdued and very British, and I’m very liberal, will do anything, anything goes (and) I curse like a sailor.”

Cohen has put the past behind her, however, as she has her eyes on a return trip to the NCAA finals and vaulting her Hurricanes into the elite of college tennis.

NU hasn’t found the same dominance on the court since Cohen’s departure, but the Cats aren’t looking for any sympathy or longing for the valient return of their superstar.

Pollard declined to comment through an athletic department spokesman, and she also barred her players from speaking about Cohen.

For now, the forward thinking seems to be working as NU is ranked No. 9, four spots ahead of Miami.

But don’t tell Cohen the Cats, or anyone else, has an upperhand on the upstart Hurricanes.

“I think this team has a lot of talent, a lot more talent than at Northwestern,” Cohen said. “For the team, I hope my impact is huge here.”

Reach Zach Silka at [email protected].