Adria Soriano Barrera Named Co-ACC Player of the Week
CORAL GABLES, Fla. –Down a break in both doubles and a third set of singles, the nation’s 39th-ranked singles player remained calm, cool and collected on his way to clinching Miami’s 4-0 win over then-No. 25 Florida State, as well as garnering co-ACC Player of the Week accolades.
“It is always a positive to get this award,” Adria Soriano Barrera said. “It helps give you confidence, it shows you that you are doing the right things and it gives you the extra strength to keep working hard and keep pushing every day.”
For the second time, the University of Miami men’s tennis junior has earned this achievement, while collecting his fifth overall award after winning ACC Doubles Team of the Week honors a trio of times.
Overall, the Player of the Week honor marks the second for Miami in three weeks, as Soriano Barrera’s sophomore doubles teammate, Francisco Bastias, earned the award prior to the Hurricanes taking a two-week hiatus from competition. That same week, the Miami duo garnered ACC Doubles Team of the Week accolades.
In Miami’s lone match of the week, Soriano Barrera and his teammates shutout the Seminoles for the second straight season, a feat that had last been accomplished by a UM team since capturing a pair of 9-0 results in 1976 and 1977.
After Miami claimed the doubles match on court one, moments before FSU claimed court two, the nation’s 56th ranked doubles pair trailed, 1-4, against Sebastian Arcila and Marcus Walters.
“In doubles, we were down a break after they broke us on a super tough deuce point. But I knew Basti and I were playing well, we just needed to keep hitting the ball well and make a couple good returns to get that break back,” Soriano Barrera said. “And that is what we did. We played a pretty good game to make it 4-2, then 4-3. [In the eighth game] Basti made an amazing play to even it at [4-4], which gave us so much energy. From there we just rolled and were able to close the match.”
Overall, the Miami duo secured five straight games to clinch the advantageous doubles point, 6-4.
In singles, the Barcelona, Spain, native faced No. 74 Alex Knaff in a crucial third set, with Miami on the brink of clinching the overall match.
Falling behind 1-3 in the final set, the junior won the final five games and was met in jubilation by his fellow teammates, as the junior clinched the overall match for Miami, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
“Clinching against FSU is always a special feeling,” Soriano Barrera said. “I am not always the guy who clinches matches, but to do it against FSU, at home, makes me feel happy and that is an experience that I can be proud of and it will always be a great memory for me, since it’s not something that happens often.”
The win improved Miami to 10-2 on the year, as well as a perfect 3-0 to open conference play. The 3-0 start marks the second straight season Miami has accomplished the feat, the first time the Canes have done so in back-to-back seasons since joining the ACC prior to the 2004-05 campaign.
“Obviously, it is also a huge win for us [as a team],” Soriano Barrera said. “They are our rivals and beating them gives us confidence moving forward, because we know that they are a great team, and the way we handled them showed that we are ready for what’s next.”
As for what is next, No. 21 Miami will welcome second-ranked North Carolina to the Neil Schiff Tennis Center on Friday at 3 p.m. Two days later, the Canes will host No. 32 Duke at 2 p.m., Miami’s fifth-straight top-50 opponent.
“We are here to protect the farm,” Soriano Barrera said. “It’s our home and now we need to step up and give it our best every match to make this place one of the toughest in the country.”
Since arriving on campus prior to the 2017-18 campaign, Soriano Barrera and the Hurricanes are 29-3 when playing in front of their home crowd.
To keep up with the University of Miami tennis team on social media, follow @CanesMensTennis on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
