Match Point: Clementina Riobueno
The University of Miami women’s tennis program has made aname for itself internationally.
That’s how Venezuelan Clementina Riobueno learned of theuniversity she would ultimately attend.
“Laura Vallverdu, she’s from Venezuela,” Riobueno said. “Shewas in the news in Venezuela every single week saying that they’re doinggreat.”
Riobueno, who enrolled at UM this spring, was home-schooledprior to arriving at Miami and has enjoyed being a part of a larger educationalsetting.
“I prefer regular school because you have more friends,”Riobueno said. “You get to know all of them. I’m super happy right now. I’menjoying every second that I’m here.”
The newcomer has quickly made a name for herself in thecollege game, as she has opened her collegiate career a perfect 8-0 in dualmatches. Miami head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews believes the freshman brings a differentdimension to the Hurricanes young team.
“Clementina adds a lot of personality and she adds talent,of course,” Yaroshuk-Tews said. “She’s very feisty on the court. She kind ofplays the style of tennis that I love, so it’s fun for me to coach her. Shelightens up the mood a lot with the girls. The girls sometimes tend to get alittle stressed out and Clementina is able to keep things light. It’s prettypositive. “
In the final week of January, Riobueno was named ACC Playerof the Week, after helping her team advance to the ITA National Team IndoorChampionships.
“It’s going great,” Riobueno said. “I mean I’ve been herefor a month and I’m doing really well.”
Earlier this month, Riobueno was ranked by ITA for the firsttime as a college player and named to the ITA All-Tournament Team. But sheadmits she was nervous to come play for Yaroshuk-Tews.
“The first day I came here I was so nervous because she’svery strict,” Riobueno said. “But I have so much respect for her. If she toldme to do something, I would do it.”
Even with all of her early success, there are still somethings the talented freshman hopes to improve on.
“Sometimes, in real matches, I’m more intense than inpractice,” Riobueno. “So I’m working on that right now, being more positive,trying to run to every single volley in practice and all that.”
Yaroshuk-Tews has seen improvement with the consistencylevel between practices and matches, but Riobueno is only beginning.
“Clementina has been doing what she needs to do to continueimproving because she is such talented kid,” Yaroshuk-Tews said. “But she’sbeen keeping her foot on the gas in practice and then in matches, it has justbecome kind of second nature. It has really helped her a lot.”
Beyond improving her game, Riobueno hopes to accomplish alot before her time at Miami is over.
“I really want to finish my career in the Top 10 in thesingles rankings and Top 5 in doubles,” Riobueno said. “As a team, I hope we’reNo. 1 in the country.”
