@HurricaneTennis to Host ITA Kick-Off Weekend
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Coming off a 28-8 showing at the Miami Spring Invite to open the 2015 season, the University of Miami will be a host for this weekend’s ITA National Indoor Kick-Off Weekend.
The Hurricanes will welcome No. 30 Florida State, North Florida and No. 53 USF to the Neil Schiff Tennis Center Saturday, Jan. 24 and Sunday Jan. 25.
“We need to be relentless as a team until we bring in four points each day,” Miami head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said. “These ladies are ready to play and seem calm. We are going to be playing teams that bring high energy. We need to match their energy and then separate ourselves with great tennis. I’m looking forward to a fun weekend.”
Miami is the top seed and will meet fourth-seeded UNF Saturday at 10:00 a.m., while second-seeded Florida State will face USF, the third seed, later in the day at 2:00 p.m.
The losers of the first two matches will play each other Sunday at 10:00 a.m. The winners will square off at 2:00 p.m. for the right to advance to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Charlottesville, Va. Feb 6-9. Miami has made the field 10 consecutive years.
The Hurricanes, ranked No. 13 by the ITA, feature the nation’s seventh-ranked singles player in junior Stephanie Wagner. She is also part of the eighth-ranked doubles pair, teaming with senior Lina Lileikite.
Freshmen Sinead Lohan (No. 39) and Wendy Zhang (No. 58) are ranked nationally in singles, as is junior Clementina Riobueno (No. 88) and Lileikite (T-No. 94).
Riobueno and senior Monique Albuquerque form the No. 15 doubles pair in the country, while Lohan and Zhang are ranked No. 37 as a duo.
Florida State’s Daneika Borthwick is the lone visiting singles player in the ITA rankings, checking in at No. 46. As for doubles, Gabriella Castenda and Emily Fanning of the Seminoles are ranked No. 49, the only opposing pair ranked.
Action throughout the weekend will take place on courts 1-6.
For more information on University of Miami women’s tennis, follow @HurricaneTennis.
