Perez-Somarriba Shines on Day Two of Miami Invite
By Alex Schwartz
HurricaneSports.com
Saturday Results | Friday Recap | Spring Stats
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Highlighted by a thrilling, three-set, top-five win by sophomore Estela Perez-Somarriba, the University of Miami women’s tennis team turned in another stellar performance on day two of the Miami Spring Invite.
The Hurricanes, No. 19 nationally, posted a 9-4 overall record, including a 7-2 mark in singles play, with six victories coming against Vanderbilt, the second-ranked team in the nation.
“We have always been a really tough team, but we need to get tougher in the big moments,” Miami head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said. “That is something we are talking about a lot and working on—not just being tough when it’s easy, when you are up or when you are down big, but tough when [it is difficult to be]. [Estela, Sinead Lohan and Ulyana Shirokova] did a really good job of that today. So, I’m really happy with just how they performed.”
The Hurricanes played three doubles matches against No. 21 Kentucky and a fourth versus Vanderbilt.
Lohan, a senior, and Shirokova, a freshman, fell to Mami Adachi and Emily Fanning, 4-6, while Perez-Somarriba and junior Ana Madcur came up short against Akvile Parazinskaite and Diana Tkachenko, 4-6.
Sophomore Dominika Paterova and junior Daniella Roldan logged a win for Miami by topping Lesedi Jacobs and Justina Mikulskyte, 7-6 (7-3).
In the lone match against a pair of Commodores, sophomore Sara Culbertson and freshman Pamela Richter faced Lauren Gish and Payton Robinette, earning a 6-4 triumph.
The Hurricanes played nine singles matches, with eight coming against the Commodores and the other versus No. 13 Ohio State.
Shirokova registered Miami’s first singles win of the day in a back-and-forth affair with Amanda Meyer. After taking the first set, 6-1, she dropped 11 of the next 13 games and faced a 2-5 deficit in the third set, but took each of the last five games to tally a 6-1, 0-6, 7-5 win.
Madcur turned in an impressive performance against No. 19 Christina Rosca, but came up just shy of a win in a 2-6, 6-3, 4-6 result.
No. 41 Lohan staved off an upset bid by Emma Kurtz, dominating the third set for a 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 victory to move to 11-2 in the 2017-18 campaign.
“Sinead was playing a kid who was relentless and was playing a type of game that Sinead did not want to play, and Sinead kept her head together,” Yaroshuk-Tews said. “She had her moments when she kind of went away, but she was able to get her head screwed back on and play big in the big moments.”
The biggest win of the day belonged to Perez-Somarriba, who knocked off fourth-ranked Fernanda Contreras, 7-5, 3-6, 6-2, to tally the second top-five win of her career. Contreras is tied for the highest-ranked opponent Perez-Somarriba has defeated as a collegian.
“As nice of a win as it was, it’s not about a ranking, it’s not about a number. It’s about one of the best players in college tennis taking down another great player in college tennis,” Yaroshuk-Tews said. “Estela defined who she was in the big moments and she worked on what we have been talking about. We are not talking about numbers, we are talking about defining who you are as a tennis player and she did a great job with that today.”
Roldan won 10 of the final 12 games of her match against Emily Smith to register a 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 victory and Culbertson followed that up with a 6-4, 6-2 triumph over Lauren Gish.
Richter stayed unblemished through her first two days of collegiate action by rolling past Robinette, 6-3, 6-4. Paterova put up a quality showing against No. 96 Summer Dvorak, but fell in three sets, 1-6, 6-4, 2-6.
Along with going 6-2 across the eight matches with Vanderbilt, Miami earned a win from Sharon Danquah over the Buckeyes’ Hannah Cseplo. It was the first spring victory as a Hurricane for the junior from Liberty Township, Ohio.
The Hurricanes are now 20-6 over the first two days of action this weekend and sport a fantastic mark of 15-3 in singles competition.
On Sunday, the final day of the Miami Spring Invite, play will begin at 9 a.m., with the Hurricanes squaring off against Ohio State in doubles and then meeting Kentucky in singles.
To keep up with the University of Miami women’s tennis team on social media, follow @CanesWTennis on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
SATURDAY RESULTS
Doubles Competition
Akvile Parazinskaite/Diana Tkachenko (UK) def. Ana Madcur/Estela Perez-Somarriba (UM), 6-4
Mami Adachi/Emily Fanning (UK) def. Sinead Lohan/Ulyana Shirokova (UM), 6-4
Dominika Paterova/Daniella Roldan (UM) def. Lesedi Jacobs/Justina Mikulskyte (UK), 7-6 (7-3)
Sara Culbertson/Pamela Richter (UM) def. Lauren Gish/Payton Robinette (VAN), 6-4
Shiori Fukuda/Anna Sanford (OS) def. No. 19 Emma Kurtz/Christina Rosca (VAN), 7-6 (7-1)
Fernanda Contreras/Summer Dvorak (VAN) def. Mary Beth Hurley/Olivia Sneed (OS), 7-6 (7-2)
Amanda Meyer/Emily Smith (VAN) def. Emma DeCoste/Danielle Wolf (OS), 6-4
Singles Competition
No. 36 Estela Perez-Somarriba (UM) def. No. 4 Fernanda Contreras (VAN), 7-5, 3-6, 6-2
No. 41 Sinead Lohan (UM) def. Emma Kurtz (VAN), 7-5, 3-6, 6-1
No. 19 Christina Rosca (VAN) def. Ana Madcur (UM), 6-2, 3-6, 6-4
Ulyana Shirokova (UM) def. Amanda Meyer (VAN), 6-1, 0-6, 7-5
Daniella Roldan (UM) def. Emily Smith (VAN), 7-6 (7-5), 6-1
No. 96 Summer Dvorak (VAN) def. Dominika Paterova (UM), 6-1, 4-6, 6-2
Sara Culbertson (UM) def. Lauren Gish (VAN), 6-4, 6-2
Pamela Richter (UM) def. Payton Robinette (VAN), 6-3, 6-4
Sharon Danquah (UM) def. Hannah Cseplo (OS), 6-1, 6-2
Anna Sanford (OS) def. Emily Fanning (UK), 2-1, ret.
No. 80 Shiori Fukuda (OS) def. No. 29 Akvile Parazinskaite (UK), 4-6, 3-4, ret.
Justina Mikulskyte (UK) def. Olivia Sneed (OS), 0-6, 6-4, 6-4
Mami Adachi (UK) def. Danielle Wolf (OS), 6-2, 6-2
Diana Tkachenko (UK) def. Emma DeCoste (OS), 0-6, 6-3, 6-1
Lesedi Jacobs (UK) def. Mary Beth Hurley (OS), 6-0, 6-0
Andrea Ballinger (OS) def. Brianna Tulloch (UK), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
SUNDAY SCHEDULE
9 a.m., Doubles: Miami vs. Ohio State (Courts 1-4) and Kentucky vs. Vanderbilt (5-8)
NB 9:45 a.m., Singles: Miami vs. Kentucky (1-4) and Ohio State vs. Vanderbilt (5-8)
