Hurricanes Defeat Drake 7-0

March 20, 2003

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com) – – The No. 18-ranked University of Miami women’s tennis team cruised to a 7-0 victory over Drake Thursday night at the Niel Schiff Tennis Center on the Coral Gables campus.

With the win, the Hurricanes improved to 11-3 while the Bulldogs fell to 2-8.

UM easily swept through the doubles point as Melissa Applebaum (Coral Gables, Fla.) and Megan Bradley (Columbia, Mo.) defeated Annali de Bruyn and Rebekah Thomas 8-1 at first singles; Mari Toro (Miami, Fla.) and Sara Robbins (Tucson, Ariz.) beat Melinda Fenimore and Marie Mainil 8-2 at second doubles; and, at third doubles, Igna DeVilliers (Capetown, South Africa) and Abby Smith (Chicago, Ill.) toppled Cheen Alkahatib and Cynthia Skogerboe 8-2.

The Hurricanes also romped through the singles matches as Applebaum defeated de Bruyn 6-3, 6-0 at first singles and Bradley handled Skogerboe 6-1, 6-2 at second singles. Toro shut out Fenimore 6-0, 6-0 at third singles and Sihem Bennacer (Algiers, Algeria) duplicated the performance at fifth singles in her win over Alkahatib. At fourth singles, Staci Stevens (Hammond, La.) took a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Thomas and, at sixth singles, Robbins dispensed with Mainil 6-1, 6-1.

Miami vs. Drake

Singles

1. Melissa Applebaum (UM) def. Annali de Bruyn (Drake) 6-3, 6-0

2. Megan Bradley (UM) def. Cindy Skogerboe (Drake) 6-1, 6-2

3. Mari Toro (UM) def. Melinda Fenimore (Drake) 6-0, 6-0

4. Staci Stevens (UM) def. Rebekah Thomas (Drake) 6-1, 6-0

5. Sihem Bennacer (UM) def. Cheen Alkahatib (Drake) 6-0, 6-0

6. Sara Robbins (UM) def. Marie Mainil (Drake) 6-1, 6-1

Doubles

1. Applebaum/Bradley (UM) def. de Bruyn/Thomas (Drake) 8-1

2. Toro/Robbins (UM) def. Fenimore/Mainil (Drake) 8-2

3. deVilliers/Smith (UM) def. Alahatib/Skogerboe (Drake) 8-2