W Tennis Dominant in First Day of Bedford Cup

CORAL GABLES, Fla.  – The University of Miami women’s tennis team wrapped up the first day of the 2012 Florida State Championship, also known as the Bedford Cup, held at USF’s Varsity and P.E. courts this Friday through Sunday.

“We executed really well today,” head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said. “I’ll be happy when that continues as our competition changes throughout the tournament.  It was a good day for Miami, we competed hard.”

In singles play, Miami won four of five opening matches, with each victory coming in straight sets. Each Hurricane received a bye in the first round of singles.

Deborah Suarez cruised in her second-round match (6-3, 6-0) over Florida Gulf Coast’s Elizabeth Means. The freshman will face Florida State’s Mia Vriens Saturday morning.

Fellow freshman and Florida native Kelsey Laurente, battled to a first-set win over the Clare Mendell (6-4), then dominated in the second set, downing Mendell, 6-0.

Sophomore Lina Lileikite’s win over USF’s Kate Parker (6-3, 6-1) guarantees her a match-up against UCF’s Josephine Haraldson.

The final singles victory of the day came from Nicholle Stracar, the talented junior transfer from Wisconsin, as she defeated UNF’s Rebeca Pereira (6-3, 6-2).

The doubles team of Brittany Dubins and Stracar advanced to the quarterfinals with 9-8 (6) win over the Griffith/Eberhart tandem from UCF. Miami’s other pair of Lileikite and Laurente faced FSU’s Sargeant and Vriens and needed a tiebreaker to down the fellow ACC member 8-7.

Check HurricaneSports.com throughout the weekend for match recaps and brackets.