Albuquerque Will Return to UM For Senior Year
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Monique Albuquerque will return to the University of Miami and the women’s tennis team for one final year, it was announced Friday.
Albuquerque received her degree in economics this past spring, but has one year of athletic eligibility remaining.
“Albuquerque’s return confirms this institution’s commitment to our student-athletes,” head women’s tennis coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said. “It also proves that Monique has some unfinished business here in Coral Gables. From a coaching standpoint, Monique will offer the stability and leadership that this young squad will need moving forward.”
Five freshmen, Judith Bohnenkamp, Silvia Fuentes, Yolimar Ogando, Sinead Lohan and Wendy Zhang, will join Albuquerque and the Hurricanes in the upcoming fall.
A diverse and wide-ranging group of student-athletes, Miami’s latest recruiting class includes players from Puerto Rico (Ogando), Ireland (Lohan), Canada (Zhang), Germany (Bohnenkamp) and Spain (Fuentes).
“This group is blessed with talent, the most talent we’ve had in a long time,” Yaroshuk-Tews said. “Their learning curve has to be quick, they need to be taught the culture of this program and implement it into their daily lives as student-athletes. Talent is a great start, but as we all know it’s simply that, a start. I tell these young ladies all the time that they have a short, four-chapter book to write. Chapter One begins the moment they step on campus.”
The first signee of the group, Ogando, was a top player in the 2014 Puerto Rican class. Fresh off an appearance in Junior Wimbledon, Ogando comes to Miami after spending this past year at the Harold Solomon Tennis Institute in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., considered one of the nation’s premier training facilities that has developed numerous players that have gone on to play at top-level universities.
Ogando was ranked the 24th-best player nationally and the No. 2 player in Puerto Rico in the class of 2014, according to the Tennis Recruiting Network’s Babolat recruiting list. Ogando has represented Puerto Rico in the Fed Cup with her teammate and friend Monica Puig, ranked the No. 1 player in Puerto Rico and 44th in the WTA professional rankings.
A native of Ireland, Lohan brings a wealth of junior tennis experience including representing Ireland at the European Championships and the Federation Cup. Lohan’s highest ranking in the ITF was No. 180, while also receiving a WTA professional ranking. Last December, Lohan defeated USC’s Sabrina Santamaria at the World College Games.
Bohnenkamp hails from Germany, but moved to Spain four years ago to train at the Bruguera Tennis Academy. A member of the German Club Etuf Essen this past year, Bohnenkamp and her team won the won the No. 2 Bundesliga title. Reaching the semifinals and finals of several national tournaments, Bohnenkamp has also started to play on the ITF pro circuit.
A Ciudad Rodrigo, Spain native, Fuentes has held the No. 1 ranking in Spain in U12, U14 and U16. In 2013, Fuentes was selected to represent Spain at the U18 European Championships, where they placed third.
Already in her young career, Fuentes has beaten opponents who are now playing at Division I institutions including Olaya Garrido of USF, Maria Alvarez (Oklahoma State), Paula Gutierrez (Indiana) and Rocio Martin Fernandez (Houston).
The Canes’ most recent signee, Zhang, has been ranked as high as No. 375 in ITF Juniors and boasts a 808 WTA ranking. En route to be ranked the 14th best player in the 2014 Canadian clas, Zhang was crowned the doubles champion in the 10K Guadeloupe in January. Two months later, Zhang reached the singles semifinal of the 10K Peru in March.
For more information on the women’s tennis program during the offseason, follow @HurricaneTennis on Twitter and Instagram.
