W. Tennis Ranked No. 13, Two Canes in Top 10
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami women’s tennis team is ranked No. 13 in the nation in the first 2016 Oracle/ITA rankings released Tuesday afternoon, and the Hurricanes also have a pair of top-10 singles players in the season’s opening rankings.
Sophomore Sinead Lohan earned the highest ranking of her career, checking in at seventh in the nation, while senior Stephanie Wagner is ranked ninth in the country.
“I couldn’t be happier for them,” Miami head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said of Lohan and Wagner. “They are incredible representatives of this program and I know they are going to work hard to improve from this point.”
The last time two Hurricanes began the year in the top 10 was 2007 when eventual NCAA champion Audra Cohen was first and current Miami associate head coach Laura Vallverdu was sixth.
Miami joins California and Virginia as the lone schools in the nation with multiple top-10 singles players. Six players in the top 10 are from ACC schools.
The Hurricanes and Florida are the only teams with a trio in the singles top 25, as Yolimar Ogando is ranked No. 21. The sophomore is currently out due to an injury she suffered at the end of her stellar 14-1 fall campaign.
“Little bit of a sore spot for me to see Ogando go from unranked at the end of last season to 21st in the country this season and out with an injury,” Yaroshuk-Tews said. “She has come so far and will remain an integral piece to our puzzle moving forward.”
Sophomore Wendy Zhang comes in No. 80 in the country, giving Miami a quartet of nationally ranked singles players. The Hurricanes are one of just eight teams with four ranked players and of those eight, half are in the ACC. Miami, Duke, Florida and Virginia are the lone schools with four singles players in the top 80.
In doubles, Wagner joins with senior Clementina Riobueno to form the nation’s No. 22-ranked pair. Wagner is one of just 12 players in the country—four are in the ACC—ranked top-25 in both singles and doubles.
Miami is one of six ACC schools in the top 25 of the team rankings, the second-most of any conference. This marks the 12th-straight year Miami is ranked in the top 15 to open the spring season.
“We typically don’t pay much attention to preseason team rankings,” Yaroshuk-Tews said. “They are simply a starting point. Our focus is where we end up.”
Miami finished the 2015 season ranked No. 15 in the nation, the 12th-straight year the team has ended its campaign in the top 15. The Hurricanes also reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Team Championship for the 10th-consecutive season.
The Hurricanes have 14 matches scheduled against teams that are nationally ranked to begin the year, including nine at home. Miami has four home matches against teams in the top 25 and three more on the road.
Yaroshuk-Tews’ team begins its 2016 season Friday, Jan. 15 at home in the Miami Spring Invite. Held from Jan. 15-17 at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center, the event also includes reigning NCAA champion Vanderbilt, the top-ranked team in the country, as well as No. 25 Ole Miss and No. 41 Texas.
To keep up with the University of Miami women’s tennis team throughout the 2016 season, follow @CanesWTennis.
