No. 46 Miami Begins Second Half of Homestand Friday
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami men’s tennis team will step out of conference play Friday afternoon, welcoming South Alabama at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center.
LIVE STATS
A live stats feed for the teams’ first meeting in 16 years will be available HERE. First serve is at 3 p.m. EST.
THE SERIES
The Hurricanes (9-7, 1-4 ACC) lead the all-time series against South Alabama, 5-3. No. 46 Miami is on a four-match win streak against the Jaguars, who have not won a series match since 1997. All of the Canes’ defeats to South Alabama came by minimal margins, 4-3.
The last meeting in 2002 also came down to the wire as Andrew Golub won a three-setter to propel then-No. 18 Miami to a win against the 17th-ranked Jaguars.
HIGHLIGHTING MIAMI’S 2018 SEASON
-Last Sunday, Miami won its first Atlantic Coast Conference contest of the season by upsetting No. 23 NC State, 4-3, for the Hurricanes’ first top-25 victory since March 21, 2014.
-The Canes returned to the Oracle/ITA rankings this week, checking in at No. 46, matching the team’s highest rankings since April 8, 2014.
-On March 18, senior Christian Langmo and freshman Adria Soriano defeated No. 11 Eero Vasa and Korey Lovett of UCF in their doubles debut to check in at No. 50 in the Oracle/ITA rankings.
-Langmo, who also has two ACC victories, ascended nine spots to check in at No. 90 in the Oracle/ITA rankings this week, the highest by a Miami player this season. Freshmen Soriano (No. 99) and Jankulovski (No. 101) have also been ranked in singles play this season.
-Miami freshmen have captured 28 singles wins this spring. Freshman Bojan Jankulovski leads the team this spring, bolstering a 12-4 singles record. He has team-best four singles wins in ACC play.
-Miami’s 6-2 start to the season was the Hurricanes’ best start since 2013.
-The Hurricanes, who are 8-1 at home, posted a seven-match win streak in Coral Gables for the first time since 2014, when the Hurricanes won nine straight between Feb. 22 and March 25.
-On March 11, freshman Pablo Aycart made his dual singles debut with a 6-3, 6-2, victory over Cleveland State’s Mirko Radosevic.
LAST TIME OUT
Jankulovski orchestrated a 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) comeback against Georgiy Malyshev at the No. 4 position to seal Miami’s first ACC triumph since April 9, 2017. At No. 1, Soriano earned his first top-25 victory, 6-4, 6-2 against No. 24 Alexis Galarneau while also helping Langmo to a doubles win against No. 53 Igor and Ivan Saveljic, 6-3.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
Friday’s contest will be South Alabama’s third match in four days during their Florida tour. The Jaguars split the first two matches – a 6-1 win against USF in Tampa Tuesday and a 4-1 loss to Florida Atlantic Thursday – to improve their overall record to 11-7. The match in Coral Gables will be South Alabama’s second-to-last contest before the Sun Belt Conference Championships in Atlanta.
The Jaguars do not have any ranked players going into the weekend.
UP NEXT
The Canes will conclude the current four-match homestand with an ACC match against No. 38 Louisville at noon Sunday.
FOLLOW US
For all of the latest news around Miami’s men’s tennis team, follow @CanesMensTennis on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, or go to HurricaneSports.com.
