No. 5 Hurricanes Stay Perfect in ACC

CORAL GABLES, Fla.- The No. 5 University of Miami women’s tennis team maintained its unblemished ACC record with a 5-2 victory over No. 69 Maryland this Sunday afternoon at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center.

With today’s performance, the Hurricanes improved to 15-1 overall and 7-0 in ACC play.

The Canes pounced on the Terrapins early, claiming all three doubles matches simultaneously to earn the match’s first point. Anna Bartenstein and Brittany Dubins picked up an 8-4 victory at No. 3, as 24th-ranked Liat Zimmerman and Melissa Bolivar completed an 8-3 upset of Maryland’s fifteenth-ranked Belzunce/Luus combo at No. 1. Gabriela Mejia and Lina Lilekite would round things out with an 8-3 win at the No. 2 position.

When singles play got underway, Bolivar would retire due to injury at the No. 4 position to give the Terps their first point of the day and evening the match at 1-1.

Mejia got Miami back on track 2-1 as she earned a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Maryland’s Ana Belzunce at No. 2, and Dubins increased the lead to 3-1 after cruising past Jordan Hansbrough 6-0, 6-1 at the No. 6 position.

It was Lilekite who would grab the all important fourth point as she succeeded in taking down Vroni Van Berlo 6-3, 6-4, thereby clinching the match. Lilekite maintains the team’s best singles record at 14-1.

With the match decided, Zimmerman came back after dropping the first set 6-4, to win the second set and tiebreak, 7-5 and 10-3 respectively. All the while Bartenstein was locked in a battle at the No. 1 position. In a match that lasted upwards of three hours, UM’s 18th-ranked senior traded sets with No. 31 Cristina Stancu before eventually falling 7-5 in a third set tiebreak, to make the final score 5-2.

The Hurricanes will return to action on Wednesday when they host No. 57 Fresno State at 1:30 p.m. at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center.

ORDER OF FINISH

Doubles

3,1,2

Singles

4, 2, 6, 3, 5, 1