No. 40 Miami Begins NCAA Action against North Florida
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami men’s tennis team will face North Florida at 10 a.m. Saturday in the opening round on the 2018 NCAA Team Championship in Gainesville.
LIVE STATS
First- and second-round action will be hosted by No. 13 Florida at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Center, with live stats and live video available HERE.
THE BRACKET
Miami’s match against the Ospreys (13-9, 6-0 ASUN), which will be the Hurricanes’ (14-12, 4-8 ACC) first on the national stage since 2011, will get the day going Saturday and will be followed by the contest between the 13th-ranked Gators and South Carolina State at 1 p.m. The winners of the two first-round matches will face off at 1 p.m. Sunday for a spot in the Round of 16, which begins May 18 in Winston-Salem, N.C.
THE SERIES
Miami has faced UNF six times in program history, with all matches coming after 2006. The Hurricanes have a 4-2 edge against its in-state rival. Last time the teams met Jan. 22, 2017, UNF was victorious, 4-2, in Coral Gables. This will be the team’s first meeting outside the Hurricanes’ very own Neil Schiff Tennis Center.
HIGHLIGHTING MIAMI’S 2018 SEASON
-Miami finished the regular season with 14 victories and four Atlantic Coast victories, both marks best since 2014.
-The Hurricanes excelled at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center into a fortress this season, winning 12 out of 14 home contests for their best home winning percentage (.857) since 2006, when they posted another 12-2 home record on their way to the NCAA Round of 16.
-Miami has been ranked in seven editions of the Oracle/ITA rankings this season, including the last six, peaking at No. 39 on April 24.
-The Canes have picked up four ranked victories so far this season, including top-25 triumphs against then-No. 23 NC State on March 23 and then-No. 22 Duke on April 20. Miami also downed then-No. 38 Louisville on April 1 and, on April 6, handed then-No. 42 Virginia its first ACC loss at home since 2006, which also came against the Hurricanes.
-For the first time in program history, Miami had three All-ACC selections in 2018: freshman Adria Soriano (second team), senior Christian Langmo (third team) and freshman Bojan Jankulovski (third team).
-Soriano and Langmo, who lead off the Hurricanes’ doubles lineup, are currently ranked No. 30 in the Oracle/ITA and earned Miami’s first bid to the NCAA Doubles Championship (May 24-28) in 10 years.
-The two are the Canes’ two ranked singles players, checking in at No. 77 and No. 125, respectively. Soriano has been ranked as high as team- and career-high No. 67 April 22, while Langmo was ranked at a season-best No. 99 March 7.
-Jankulovski, who holds a team-best 19-5 dual record in his rookie campaign, including a 9-2 record in ACC play, leads a quartet of Miami freshmen that has captured 39 singles wins this spring. Jankulovski was the third Cane who was nationally ranked in singles this eason, checking in at as high as No. 101 on Feb. 4.
-Miami’s 6-2 start to the season was the Hurricanes’ best start since 2013.
LAST TIME OUT
Miami showed resilience in Cary, N.C., but fell to seventh-seeded and 22nd-ranked NC State in the second round of the ACC Championship, 4-1. Langmo picked up the first postseason point for the Hurricanes in 2018, defeating Tadas Babelis, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), in the No. 2 spot.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
The Ospreys go into their second-ever tournament appearance after winning seven of their last eight matches, including two 4-1 triumphs on the way to grabbing the Atlantic Sun title as the No. 1 seed. North Florida went to Gainesville in 2016 as well, when it was blanked by No. 9 Florida in the opening round.
UNF carries a 2-2 mark on neutral grounds, with all four of those matches coming in the opening two weekends of the season. One of those contests, a 4-0 loss at No. 2 Ohio State in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend, was the Ospreys only matchup against a ranked opponent in 2018.
UP NEXT
Soriano and Langmo will extend Miami’s season at the NCAA Doubles Championship, which will start May 24 at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex in Winston-Salem, N.C.
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.
