@HurricaneTennis Goes 28-8 on Opening Weekend
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami women’s tennis team began its spring season Friday, Jan. 16 at the friendly confines of the Neil Schiff Tennis Center.
The Hurricanes welcomed No. 22 Texas, No. 44 Utah and No. 11 Vanderbilt to Coral Gables for the Miami Spring Invite, a three-day event than ran through the 18th.
“These are the teams that we need to be playing if we want to get better,” Miami head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said. “If we are trying to a line ourselves to be going deep in the tournament, we need to be playing these schools early in the season with a week of practice under our belt. There was some pretty amazing tennis for three days and that’s what we needed.”
The Hurricanes began play Friday by facing Texas in a trio of doubles matches and Utah in a fourth. The Hurricanes went 3-1, including Yolimar Ogando winning the first match of her college career, playing with fellow freshman Silvia Fuentes.
Miami then took on Utah in singles, playing nine matches against the Utes and the Hurricanes were dominant. The final tally was 8-1 in favor of Miami, with all eight victories coming in straight sets. Freshman Sinead Lohan, ranked No. 39, put forth a superb effort for a 6-1, 6-1 win over Jena Chang in the third spot.
Overall, Miami went 11-2 on the first day of the season.
“Had a good showing today in singles and doubles,” Yaroshuk-Tews said after day one. “. . . Overall I think we had a productive start. I’m happy to see our entire team healthy and competing.”
Saturday began with Miami squaring off against Vanderbilt for a trio of doubles matches, two of which went Miami’s way. The nation’s eighth-ranked doubles pair of senior Lina Lileikite and junior Stephane Wagner rolled to 6-2 victory in their match against Frances Altic/Astra Sharma.
In singles action, Miami played five matches against Texas and two against Utah. Four of the matches against the Longhorns were Miami victories, including an impressive showing by junior No. 88 Clementina Riobueno in the fourth spot. She defeated Lana Groenvynck, 6-0, 6-1.
Sinead Lohan’s 6-3, 7-6 victory over Texas’s Ryann Foster drew rave reviews from her head coach.
“I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen two freshmen playing that type of tennis this early in the season,” Yaroshuk-Tews said. “Lohan really unveiled a side of her game that I hadn’t seen since she’s been here. She really dug her heels in [during] the second set and she didn’t go away.”
Against Utah, Miami won one match and the other was unfished. The Hurricanes posted an 8-2 record as whole on Saturday through doubles and singles.
On the third day, Miami began by splitting four doubles matches with Utah. The No. 15 duo of senior Monique Albuquerque and Clementina Riobueno battled for a tough 7-5 win over Sarah Richter/Luisa Gerstner Da Rosa.
In singles play, Miami had eight matches against Vanderbilt and won six of them, while freshman Judith Bohnenkamp picked up a 6-3, 3-6, 10-7 win in the lone singles match against Utah.
In addition to Bohnenkamp, all four of Miami’s other freshmen won, with Lohan, Ogando, Zhang, and Fuentes all doing so in straight sets.
“I was really happy with the girls’ performances today,” Yaroshuk-Tews said of her team as a whole on day three. “I think that everybody down the line did a great job. We knew that we needed come out and set a positive tone today against Vanderbilt because they are a team that we could realistically see in the NCAA Tournament, so it was important for us to go out and have a great showing.”
Miami’s 9-4 record on Sunday gave the Hurricanes an impressive 28-8 showing overall, including a 20-4 record in singles play. Sinead Lohan and Wendy Zhang, ranked No. 58, both went 6-0 overall, with three wins together as a doubles pair.
The Hurricanes will be back in action Jan. 24-25 at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center for the ITA National Indoor Kick-Off Weekend. Miami will be hosting No. 30 Florida State, North Florida and No. 39 USF.
For more information on University of Miami women’s tennis, follow @HurricaneTennis.
