W. Tennis Ascends to No. 19 in Oracle/ITA Rankings
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami women’s tennis team continued its rise in the Oracle/ITA national rankings this week, checking in at No. 19 in the country, as announced Tuesday afternoon.
After jumping 11 spots last week, Miami (9-4, 5-1 ACC) ascended 12 more this time, making a move from No. 42 to No. 19 in a span of two weeks.
The only team that made a larger jump this week than the Hurricanes was Mississippi State, which went from unranked to No. 24 in the nation. Miami is one of six ACC teams in the top 25, while four others are also in the top 50.
“Although a rise in rankings is nice, it’s definitely not our focus in March. We have a lot of important tennis in front of us,” Miami head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said. “This confirms we have done a great job up until this point. Each week is a new mini-season for us. Our focus remains in the moment. It’s funny, when you focus on the moment, both the past and the future get taken care of.”
In singles, sophomore Estela Perez-Somarriba earned the first top-10 ranking of her career, checking in at ninth nationally. The Madrid native, who moved up nine spots, is third nationally among sophomores and third among ACC players.
Senior Sinead Lohan rose 37 places and now holds the No. 71 spot. Only three players made bigger moves than Lohan: Ingrid Gamarra Martins of South Carolina (No. 110 to No. 52), Katarina Stresnakova of Oklahoma State (unranked to No. 87) and Jessica Livianu of St. John’s (unranked to No. 88).
Miami has two ranked doubles pairs for the first time since the final ranking of the 2016 season and both duos feature junior Ana Madcur. She comes in at No. 38 with Perez-Somarriba and places No. 50 with Lohan.
Madcur and Lohan form the second-highest-ranked pair that was unranked in the last list, behind only No. 48 Ilze Hattingh and Lauryn John-Baptiste of Arizona State.
The Hurricanes, led by 17th-year head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews, play the first of three consecutive road matches versus top-25 opponents Friday at 3 p.m., against No. 21 Virginia in Charlottesville, Va.
To keep up with the University of Miami women’s tennis team on social media, follow @CanesWTennis on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
