W. Tennis Ready to Open 2019-20 Campaign
By Alex Schwartz
HurricaneSports.com
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Paige Yaroshuk-Tews will begin her 23rd season as a University of Miami women’s tennis coach this weekend, including her 19th as the leader of one of the nation’s premier programs.
The Hurricanes return five of the six primary members of their spring 2019 lineup, including each of the top three, off a team that earned Miami’s 17th consecutive ITA top-25 finish.
While Miami has talent back in the fold, Yaroshuk-Tews’ readiness for the season stems more from the team’s work leading up to it than anything else.
“I think we’re better prepared entering this fall season than we have been in a long time,” Yaroshuk-Tews said. “We’ve had most of our girls around training [with our local sports club] all summer, so we were able to hit the fall season pretty hard with our physical training. We added one player, [Selma Cadar, who] wasn’t here over the summer training who’s been working really hard. So, I think the girls are pretty prepared to begin the season.”
Eyes will be focused on one particular Hurricane not just at the start of the year, but throughout. When you win a national title, that is what happens.
The last time senior Estela Perez-Somarriba took the court, it was May 25 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla. The match ended with her embracing Yaroshuk-Tews in jubilation, having just clinched the second NCAA Singles Championship crown in program history.
When Perez-Somarriba, a two-time ACC Player of the Year, begins play Friday morning at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center, she will do so as the first reigning champion Yaroshuk-Tews has coached. Audra Cohen, the 2007 NCAA title winner, turned pro after winning the crown as a junior.
“It’s a first-time situation for myself, [as well as a] first-time situation for Stela, so we’re obviously going to work through it together. We’re going to stay grounded, very humble, very hard-working and treat every match and every part of the season no different than we treated last season,” Yaroshuk-Tews said. “But we are going to understand that people wanted to take you down last year and it’s one thing to take a player down that is top-two in the country or top-three in the country, but it’s another thing to take down a national champion.
“So, she has to understand that the kids that wanted to beat her last year are going to want to beat her even worse this year. But I think that’s fine, I think she’s ready for it. I see a different Stela; I see a more confident, more poised, calmer version of herself. So, I think that she’s only getting better.”
Miami fans will not just have their first chance to watch the defending national champion play this weekend, but also to see the new state-of-the-art videoboard at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center.
The largest Daktronics-installed videoboard at any collegiate tennis facility in America, the addition was made possible through a generous donation from a former Miami men’s tennis player, Wayne Boich, and his wife, Cynthia.
“Listen, that board gives an entirely different perspective, the facility looks unbelievably different. It’s nice to see—they we’re testing it out yesterday—what is going on, on each court,” Yaroshuk-Tews said. “It’s so hard when eight courts are going to know what’s going on everywhere. I feel, from a coaching standpoint and even a playing standpoint, just knowing what’s happening on every court is going to be really nice. The look of the facility definitely changes and we’re excited to play. We’ve been practicing a lot, we’ve been practicing hard and we’re excited to just finally play.”
While five of Miami’s seven players will be competing at home, two others are set to hit the road for one of the nation’s top fall events.
Cadar, a freshman from Bucharest, Romania, will join Daevenia Achong, who opens her sophomore campaign ranked No. 80 nationally, at the Milwaukee Tennis Classic in River Falls, Wis.
The singles crown-winner, a distinction former Miami standout Sinead Lohan earned in 2017, and doubles champion will earn wild cards to the Oracle ITA Fall National Championships.
“We’re sending them to Milwaukee to test the waters a little bit. There’s obviously a lot on the line in Milwaukee, the winner of that tournament gets a hefty wild card,” Yaroshuk-Tews said. “So, they’re in the hunt for that, that’s what they’re shooting for. They have been playing pretty good doubles. Let’s see what happens in singles, but we’re expecting them to have a strong showing.”
Competition opens with doubles play Friday morning at the Milwaukee Country Club, but Achong and Cadar, seeded second, have a bye and will not play until the afternoon.
Fifth-seeded Achong starts play at approximately 10:30 a.m. ET against Purdue’s Ena Babic, while Cadar meets Christine Gouws of Eastern Illinois in the afternoon, with the exact time to be determined. Play continues through Sunday for all players, with championship matches set for Monday. Additional tournament information, including a live stats link, can be found HERE.
Meanwhile, the Miami Fall Invitational is set to begin at 8 a.m. both Friday and Saturday, then at 9 a.m. Sunday. Thirty-one singles competitors from Miami, Florida Atlantic, FGCU, Georgia State, LSU and Utah will be split into two draws, as will 15 doubles pairs.
Perez-Somarriba, currently second nationally, is one of two ranked competitors in the field, alongside No. 103 Eva Chivu of Georgia State. Live stats will be available HERE throughout the weekend.
To keep up with the University of Miami women’s tennis team on social media, follow @CanesWTennis on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
