Canes March on into NCAA Second Round

May 11, 2012

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami women’s tennis team moved on to the second round of the NCAA Tournament with a 4-0 victory over in-state foe UNF at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center on Friday.

Melissa Bolivar clinched the match for the Hurricanes with her 6-1, 4-6, 6-0 win over North Florida’s Simona Weymar at No. 4 singles.

With the win, Miami moves to 19-4 on the season and will face Utah tomorrow for a chance to travel to Athens, Ga. for a Sweet 16 appearance. The Utes advanced to Saturday’s match-up with the Canes after a 4-3 upset win over the Coral Gables Region’s second-seeded team from Texas Tech.

Miami has advanced to the Sweet 16 each of the last six seasons but head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews refused to look ahead, “Our philosophy is to focus on our next match, that’s the way it has always been here and we need to focus on Utah.”

Gabriela Mejia, the 27th-ranked singles player in the nation, was the first to get on the board in singles action, easily dispatching Lorena Aviles, 6-1, 6-0. Freshman Liat Zimmerman had similar success against the Ospreys’ Marina Cunningham, outpacing her opponent, 6-2, 6-1, giving the Canes a 3-0 lead.

The Canes opened the match, making quick work of the Ospreys in doubles action as well. The duos of Mejia/Lina Lileikite and Anna Bartenstein/Brittany Dubins downed UNF’s Berkenbrock/Aviles and Day/Cunningham by the same 8-3 scores.

Earlier in the day, both Bartenstein and Mejia graduated from the University of Miami and were able to walk with their fellow graduates this morning at 8:30 a.m. at the BankUnited Center across campus.

“These two seniors have really carried our team this season,” Yaroshuk-Tews added. “We have been playing with only six players on the roster all year and Anna and Gaby have put this program on their backs. It’s always tough when you know your time with the seniors is coming to an end.”

Order of finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (2,5,4)