W. Tennis Set to Host Miami Spring Invite
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The No. 9 Miami Hurricanes women’s tennis team begins its spring campaign this weekend at the Miami Spring Invite.
The Canes will host No. 16 Vanderbilt, No. 17 Texas and No. 31 Memphis at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center from Jan. 17 to Jan. 19. Doubles action gets started this Friday at 9 a.m. with Miami battling Texas on Courts 1 – 4 and Memphis taking on Vanderbilt on Courts 5 – 8.
The Hurricanes are prepared for the early-season challenge of competing with three teams in the top-40.
“The girls are excited to start competing,” Miami head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said. “They’re excited to play some top teams in the country, some teams we can be seeing late in the NCAA tournament.”
Miami’s doubles tandem of junior Monique Albuquerque and sophomore Clementina Riobueno enters the weekend looking to continue its success from the fall. Albuquerque and Riobueno finished the fall with a record of 9-3 and are ranked 29th in the country.
Breaunna Addison and Pippa Horn formed the top Longhorns doubles pair with a fall record of 7-3. The Texas tandem faced five duos ranked in the Top 25, including both the No. 1 (Brady and Anderson, UCLA) and No. 2 (Fellerhoff and Shine, Louisville) ranked teams in the country. Addison and Horn, who are ranked No. 21, compiled a 1-4 record against Top 25 opponents.
For Memphis, the doubles team of Alyssa Hibberd and Caroline Wegner paced the Tigers with nine wins in the fall. Hibberd saw doubles action with three different partners, compiling a record of 18-9. The Memphis duo of sophomore Caroline Wegner and senior Stefanie Mikesz are ranked No. 53.
The 28th-ranked pairing of Asleigh Antal and Sydney Campbell was impressive for Vanderbilt this past fall, going 7-1 with victories over No. 12 Alabama and No. 13 Clemson. The Commodores also have the 36th-ranked duo of Courtney Colton and Lauren Mira whom finished the fall 3-0.
Singles action on Friday will begin as early as 10:30 a.m., with the schools set to swap opponents. The Hurricanes will face Vanderbilt while Texas is scheduled to take on Memphis.
Miami sophomore Stephanie Wagner enters this weekend as the No. 32 singles player in the country. Her spring season gets started after a strong fall season in which she won nine of her last 10 matches en route to a 12-3 record. Fellow sophomore Kelsey Laurente is also ranked at No. 64 after an 8-5 fall.
Texas’ Breaunna Addison boasts the highest singles ranking in the Miami Spring Invite at No. 22. Her overall fall record was 7-4 and included two straight-set victories over Florida’s 17th-ranked Olivia Janowicz and North Carolina’s second-ranked Jamie Loeb to win the Duke Fab 4.
Vanderbilt sports four singles players ranked in the Top 118: No. 48 Georgina Sellyn, No. 61 Lauren Mira, No. 78 Sydney Campbell and No. 102 Ashleigh Antal.
Sellyn led the Commodores with 13 victories in the fall, including three victories against ranked players. Antal was second on the team with 11 wins.
Wegner was Memphis’ top singles player in the fall, winning 10 matches. While no Memphis player appears in the singles rankings, all seven Tigers had at least seven wins and no player finished the fall with a record below .500.
There will be no shortage of talent this weekend, providing the Hurricanes with a good challenge early in the spring.
“We want to play the best teams we can play early on in the season,” Yaroshuk-Tews said.
The Miami Spring Invite will continue Saturday at 9:00 a.m., while the final day’s action will begin Sunday at 8:00 a.m.
Live stats and updates will be provided through HurricaneSports.com. The live stats link is available here. Also be sure to follow us along on Twitter for updates about the tournament.
