W. Tennis Excels in Miami Spring Invite Finale

By Teodor Handarov
HurricaneSports.com

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami women’s tennis team enjoyed a quality finale to the Miami Spring Invite Saturday, notching eight victories against representatives of No. 13 Ohio State and No. 21 Kentucky at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center.

With the help of dominating victories and dramatic comebacks, No. 19 Miami finished the day with an 8-2 record, including a 5-1 mark in singles play.

“We talked about wanting a strong finish going into next weekend,” Miami head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said. “Everybody is ending on a high note, everybody is playing solid tennis. To be able to do that just shows our level of commitment.”

The Hurricanes played four doubles matches against the Buckeyes and recorded three victories, in which they did not lose a single set. Senior Sinead Lohan and freshman Ulyana Shirokova were most convincing, posting a 6-2 victory over Emily Smith and Amanda Meyer.

The duo of sophomore Dominika Paterova and junior Daniella Roldan triumphed 6-3 over Mary Beth Hurley and Olivia Sneed.

Sophomore Estela Perez-Somarriba and junior Ana Madcur earned the last doubles victory with a 6-4 win over Commodores Shiori Fukuda and Anna Sanford.

Emma DeCoste and Danielle Wolf defeated sophomore Sara Culbertson and freshman Pamela Richter, 6-1, for Ohio State’s lone doubles win.

“All in all, I think we played pretty good doubles today,” Yaroshuk-Tews said. “[We were] taking care of some patterns, doing some things, stepping up, keeping the court small, things that we have been focusing on.”

In singles action, seven Hurricanes faced Kentucky counterparts, while an eighth one – Roldan – was tabbed against Lauren Gish of Vanderbilt. The two nationally-ranked Hurricanes, No. 41 Lohan and No. 36 Perez-Somarriba, got things going and picked up straight-set victories. Lohan dropped only two games to Justina Mikulskyte in a dominating 6-2, 6-0 putout, while Perez-Somarriba downed Mami Adachi, 6-2, 6-3.

Freshman Ulyana Shirokova followed suit and fought off her Russian compatriot, 6-3, 6-4. Hence, the Miami rookie completed her first weekend of spring action with a 3-0 singles record.  

“Starting at the top, [positions] one, two and three were business-like today, taking care of business from beginning to end against a good Kentucky team,” Yaroshuk-Tews said. “To be able to do this on day three is what we need if we want to go deep in tournaments and we want to go deep in National Indoors, deep in [the NCAA Championship], we need to play three days strong.”

Kentucky’s Lesedi Jacobs spoiled Miami’s perfect mark in singles play by besting Madcur, 6-1, 6-3, but then Paterova and Roldan both overcame adversity in their contests to cap the day. Despite trailing, 5-2, in set one, Paterova clawed her way to a 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 victory against UK’s Brianna Tulloch. In Miami’s finale, Roldan dropped the first set to Gish, but she found the best response possible and went on to complete a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 comeback.  

“I was happy with Dani’s finish and I was happy with Domi’s finish,” Yaroshuk-Tews said. “Sometimes it’s easy to throw in the towel, but your habits truly define who you are and you have to work on creating great habits every day. That’s something that I, as a person, really believe in – your habits define you, so they showed today that they don’t want to lose.”

As a team, the Hurricanes completed the first weekend of the spring season with a 28-8 record, which includes a stellar 20-4 mark in singles competition.

Next weekend, Miami will travel to Auburn, Ala., to take part in the ITA Kickoff Weekend. The Hurricanes will face UC Santa Barbara Saturday at 4 p.m. ET and either Auburn or Tulane Sunday.

To keep up with the University of Miami women’s tennis team on social media, follow @CanesWTennis on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

SUNDAY RESULTS
Doubles Competition
Estela Perez-Somarriba/Ana Madcur (UM) defeated Shiori Fukuda/Anna Sanford (OS), 6-3
Dominika Paterova/Daniella Roldan (UM) defeated Mary Beth Hurley/Olivia Sneed (OS), 6-3
Sinead Lohan/Ulyana Shirokova (UM) defeated Emily Smith/Amanda Meyer (OS), 6-2
Emma DeCoste/Danielle Wolf (OS) def. Sara Culbertson/Pamela Richter (UM), 6-1
Justina Mikulskyte/Lesedi Jacobs (UK) def. Fernanda Contreras/Christina Rosca (VAN), 6-4
Emma Kurtz/Summer Dvorak (VAN) def. Diana Tkachenko/Mami Adachi (UK), 6-2

Singles Competition
No. 41 Sinead Lohan (UM) def. Justina Mikulskyte (UK), 6-2, 6-0
No. 36 Estela Perez-Somarriba (UM) def. Mami Adachi (UK) 6-2, 6-3
Ulyana Shirokova (UM) def. Diana Tkachenko (UK), 6-3, 6-4
Lesedi Jacobs (UK) def. Ana Madcur (UM), 6-1, 6-3
Daniella Roldan (UM) def. Lauren Gish (VAN), 4-6, 6-2, 6-3
Dominika Paterova (UM) def. Brianna Tulloch (UK), 7-6 (5), 6-2
No. 4 Fernanda Contreras (VAN) def. Anna Sanford (OS), 6-2, 5-7, 6-4
Olivia Sneed (OS) def. No. 19 Christina Rosca (VAN), 6-3, 2-6, 6-3
Emma Kurtz (VAN) def. Shiori Fukuda (OS), 6-1, 6-4
No. 96 Summer Dvorak (VAN) def. Danielle Wolf (OS), 2-6, 6-2, 6-2
Amanda Meyer (VAN) def. Mary Beth Hurley (OS), 6-1, 6-2
Emily Smith (VAN) def. Emma DeCoste (OS), 6-4, 6-2
Andrea Ballinger (OS) def. Payton Robinette (VAN), 7-5, 6-2