W. Tennis Heads to ITA Regionals
ATHENS, Ga. –The Miami Hurricanes women’s tennis team continues fall play this weekend at the ITA Regionals hosted by the University of Georgia.
“I’m expecting great things from the girls,” head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said. “They’re excited to play and we really started turning the corner in some spots at our tournament this past weekend. Some of our girls are really playing some great tennis.”
All seven participating Hurricanes—Stephanie Wagner, Kelsey Laurente, Monique Albuquerque, Clementina Riobueno, Melissa Bolivar, and Brittany Dubins, and Lina Lileikite—will compete in the main singles draw beginning tomorrow after the first round of doubles.
Miami’s 52nd-ranked Wagner will face USF’s Fanny Fracassi in the first round of singles on Friday morning. Wagner looks to make another statement this weekend after cruising through the orange singles bracket en route to winning the final at the Miami Invite this past weekend. Heading into play in Athens, Wagner’s fall singles record is a stellar 9-2.
No. 54 Laurente will go head to head with Jana Hueckinghaus in the opening round of singles. Laurente comes into the match against the freshman from Kennesaw State with a 7-4 fall record. 69th-ranked Riobueno, who rallied this past weekend at the Miami Invite to win the consolation final, will look to keep that momentum going against FIU’s Tina Mohorcic.
Bolivar will also compete against a player from Kennesaw State freshman—Virginie Stein. Bolivar had a successful weekend at the Miami Invite before falling in the green finals to teammate Liliekite. No. 84 Lileikite is scheduled to go up against Florida State’s Eduarda Nardi Dos Santos in the first round of play on Friday.
Albuquerque, having a great fall doubles season, aims to continue the strong singles play that she brought last week at Canes’ home tournament. Albuquerque will face Elizabeth Means of Florida Gulf Coast University in the first round. Lastly, Dubins is matched up the first round against Lucie Payrat of Mercer University. Dubins, who played in her first tournament of the fall last weekend, comes into this match with a 3-1 singles record.
On the doubles end, the Hurricanes’ 27th-ranked duo of Albuquerque and Riobueno will face Olga Martinez and Verga Bessonova from USF in the opening round. Last weekend at the Miami Invite, Riobueno and Albuquerque continued to impress as a doubles team, improving their fall record to 7-2 while winning the orange doubles final.
“I really believe that Monique and Clementina are ready to take that next step,” Yaroshuk-Tews said. “They’ve been put in some situations lately against great teams and they’ve been successful and they’ve come up a little bit short. I think they’ve learned from both their losses and their wins—so as a doubles team I think they’re ready to continue playing great tennis.”
Dubins and Wagner will once again pair together after going 2-1 together this fall. Wagner and Dubins will be matched up against UCF’s Courtney Griffith and Cortney Cesarini in the opening round. The Hurricanes’ third and final doubles team competing in the tournament is Laurente and Bolivar. Laurente and Bolivar, who are a perfect 3-0 playing together this fall, will face off against Nina Nagode and Tina Mohorcic from FIU.
“I think we’re heading into this tournament with some individuals hoping to get that spot into national indoors,” Yaroshuk-Tews said “I see that their expectations are high for themselves and they’re playing great tennis.”
The weekend will get underway on Friday morning with doubles play beginning at 9 a.m. with singles following shortly after.
Schedule of Play (Subject to Change)
Friday, October 18th (9:00 a.m. start)
Main Doubles – Round of 32
Main Singles – Round of 64
B Singles – Round of 16
Main Singles – Round of 32
