W. Tennis Adds Two to 2018 Recruiting Class
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – University of Miami head women’s tennis coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews announced Thursday the signing of two more 2018 recruits.
The Hurricanes have added junior college transfer Yuna Ito and Latvian standout Rebeka Mertena to a class that already featured Lucia Marzal Martinez, who signed in the spring.
“We’re very excited to have these two young ladies join our program,” Yaroshuk-Tews said. “Their passion and maturity are what we are looking for moving forward. Yuna is coming to us with some valuable experience under her belt. Rebeka will have a little more of a transition being a true freshman, but she is quite talented.”
A 5-foot-6-inch left-hander from Kanagawa, Japan, Ito joins the Hurricanes after spending two years at Tyler Junior College in Tyler, Texas. She graduated from Hinode Senior High School, where she won a Japanese singles title.
During her two years at Tyler, Ito helped the Apaches to a 34-1 overall record and back-to-back NJCAA DI national championships, the 18th and 19th in program history. Across team, singles and doubles competitions, Ito won five of a possible six NJCAA titles during her time with the Apaches.
The top seed in her singles flight at both the 2017 and 2018 NJCAA Championships, Ito earned the crown at the No. 5 spot as a freshman and at No. 4 as a sophomore. She was also the top seed in doubles both years, reaching the No. 1 flight semifinals in 2017 and winning the No. 2 flight in 2018.
Ito, who has a 10.20 UTR, committed to Miami over Louisville, South Alabama and Tennessee. She will be the first lefty to play for the Hurricanes since 2014 graduate Melissa Bolivar and is the first junior college transfer Miami has inked since 2006 signee Romy Farah.
A 5-foot-7-inch right-hander, Mertena hails from Liepaja, Latvia, the same hometown as Lina Lileikite, a 2014 All-ACC honoree at Miami. The Liepaja State 1st Gymnasium graduate, who has an 11.86 UTR and played for the Latvian National Team since 2013, went 55-21 in ITF Juniors play and peaked at No. 243 in the rankings in October 2017.
Mertena garnered three ITF Juniors singles titles in 2017, each as the top seed. She first won the Grade 4 U-18 Tallink Cup in Estonia in July, following that with trophies in September at the Grade 5 Siaulai Mayor’s Cup in Lithuania and the Grade 5 Venden Cup Liepaja.
In addition, Mertena was the top seed in doubles in all three tournaments, winning the first two and reaching the semifinals in the third. She also made the singles finals as the fifth seed at the Grade 5 BelGlobal Cup in December 2016 in Belarus.
Mertena has two Latvian Olympiad singles titles, taking the U-14 championship in 2013 and the adult crown in 2016, a year in which she also earned Liepaja City Sport’s Athlete of the Year distinction. She considered Florida, Kansas, Mississippi State, Texas A&M and Wisconsin before selecting the Hurricanes.
The newcomers join a Miami roster that returns four of its six mainstays from a 2018 lineup that guided the team to an 18-8 (11-3 ACC) record and a 12th Sweet 16 trip in the last 13 years.
To keep up with the University of Miami women’s tennis team on social media, follow @CanesWTennis on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
