No. 8 Women's Tennis Takes Giant First Step

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The No. 8 University of Miami women’s tennis team defeated the No. 5 Michigan Wolverines, 4-3 Wednesday at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center.

With several hundred looking on, including most of the players of the ‘Canes football team, Miami started out on a roll and never looked back.

Using the energy of the large crowd, the ‘Canes raced out to early leads in No. 1 and No. 2 doubles.

In No. 2 doubles, the team of Gabriela Mejia and Melissa Bolivar took down Michigan’s No. 60 tandem of Whitney Taney and Rika Tatsuno, 8-3.

Moments later, the ‘Canes took the doubles point behind the 27th-ranked duo of Bianca Eichkorn and Anna Bartenstein, who beat Michigan’s 16th-ranked team of Brooke Bolender and Denis Muresan, 8-2.

“I’ve only seen [Critser] play one time, and she was lights out,” said Miami head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews. “For Anna to turn it around 0-1, just says so much about her tennis and her mental toughness. We wanted to make this match physical, and Anna was able to do that and make her match physical.”

After stumbling in No. 4 singles, Miami reclaimed the advantage for good as Mejia defeated Nguyen, 6-0, 7-5 in No. 5 singles, to put the ‘Canes up 2-1.

It took almost an hour for the next match to finish, as it looked like it could become a tight match all the way to the end. However, despite being down in the second set, No. 10 Bianca Eichkorn came back to claim a straight set victory over No. 5 Denise Muresan, 6-3, 7-5.

“Muresan is an amazing player,” said Yaroshuk-Tews. “She and Bianca kind of have similar styles, and we knew it was going to be a great match – one way or the other. Bianca was able to stay a little more mentally tough, and a little more poised in the second set, and I think that was the difference.”

In No. 2 singles, Anna Bartenstein dropped the first set 5-7 to Critser, and seemed to be in for a tough day. However, Bartenstein stormed back, winning the next two sets, 6-0, 6-1 to clinch the victory for the Hurricanes.

In the midst of playing five Top 15 teams in the next five matches, the Hurricanes will now turn their attention to Atlantic Coast Conference opponent Georgia Tech on Saturday, March 5 at Noon in Atlanta.

“This win obviously gets us started on the right foot for the schedule we have ahead,” stated Yaroshuk-Tews. “Beating a team like Michigan is huge for us. Michigan is a great team with great players from positions 1-6. But we have to have short memories and enjoy the win tonight, but get back to work tomorrow because Georgia Tech is another great team coming up.”

For all of the latest on the UM women’s tennis team, visit HurricaneSports.com or TheUTennis.com.