Rain Soaked Day at the Miami Invite
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Morning storms washed out doubles and delayed the start of the second day of the Miami Invite at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center on Saturday.
However, the five hour delay and postponed doubles play couldn’t hold back a pair of Hurricane players. Both Lina Lileikite and Nicolle Stracar will be playing for singles titles Sunday morning, as each won quarterfinal and semifinal matches in their respective brackets.
Lileikite, a sophomore from Latvia, cruised to a 6-3, 6-3 win over USF’s Fanny Fracassi earning the right to face teammate Kelsey Laurente. The two Canes needed three sets in the back-and-forth affair. However, Lileikite pulled out the 6-1, 2-6, 10-6 three-setter. She will face USF’s Loreta Alonso Martinez in Sunday’s Green Bracket final.
Laurente will play Elisabeth Abanda in the third place match on Sunday.
In the Orange Bracket, junior transfer Nicolle Stracar only needed straight sets to defeat Emma Onila (7-5, 6-4) and UNF’s Melanie Aguirre (6-2, 6-4) in her quarter and semifinal matches, respectively. The Jericho, N.Y. native will face USF’s Paula Montoya in the final.
Melissa Bolivar (Green) and Brittany Dubins (Orange) will each play in their bracket’s fifth-place match against USF’s Fanny Fracassi and Taylor Hollander, respectively.
On Friday, Hurricane doubles teams finished the day with a 5-2 record and two of the four squads will be competing Sunday in a championship match.
Juniors Dubins and Stracar teamed up for two wins over squads from Barry (8-1) and USF (8-4) and will face the North Florida squad of Lorena Aviles and Melanie Aguirre.
The Bolivar/Deborah Suarez pair also cruised to victories over teams from Barry (8-5) and USF (8-1) and will face the independent pair of Abanda and Onila, who defeated UM’s duo of Lileikite and Wagner in the semifinal, in the Orange Bracket final.
Doubles will follow singles play in Sunday’s format.
Individuals from visiting Maryland, Florida Gulf Coast, North Florida, South Florida and Barry are competing in the inaugural Miami Invite.
