CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami women’s tennis team started its 2022 campaign this weekend on its home court at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center.
Facing stiff competition from top-ranked Texas, eighth-ranked NC State and Vanderbilt, the Hurricanes went 14-12 overall at the Miami Spring Invite. The mark includes a 10-10 tally in singles and a 4-2 ledger in doubles, the latter of which featured three fewer matches than initially planned, due to Sunday rain.
“We played a lot of great tennis this weekend. [We faced] high-level teams and had quite a bit of success,” Miami head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said. “I’d like to see us defining our weaknesses a little earlier and then just being relentlessly disciplined in taking the right path and not looking back.”
To open the weekend, Miami went 3-4 in singles against the Commodores. Fifth-year senior Eden Richardson topped Dasha Kourkina, 7-5, 6-7 (3-7), 6-0, in a lengthy affair. Third-year sophomore Nada Dimovska also went three sets before defeating MaryAnn Rompf, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2. Sophomore Audrey Boch-Collins, meanwhile, turned in a dominant 6-0, 6-1 win against Yufei Long.
The Hurricanes wrapped up play on Saturday by posting a 2-1 doubles mark against Texas, the reigning national champion. Eden and fourth-year junior Daevenia Achong, together ranked No. 40, tallied a 6-3 win over Kylie Collins and Peyton Stearns, the former of whom made the 2021 NCAA Doubles Championship title match. Boch-Collins and sophomore Isabella Pfennig blanked Gabby Cusano and Simran Kortikere, 6-0.
Sunday morning, Miami played NC State in singles and split six matches, while a seventh remained unfinished due to weather, which also wiped out the planned doubles contests against Vanderbilt.
Richardson posted the biggest win of the weekend, with an impressive comeback victory over eighth-ranked Jaeda Daniel. After dropping the first set, the Bath, England, native took each of the next two to log a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 triumph.
No. 104 Achong defeated Priska Nugroho, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), while Boch-Collins also earned a comeback decision, topping Sophie Abrams, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. Third-year sophomore Maya Tahan did not finish her match versus Amelia Rajecki until Monday, but she won in a 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-2) result to give the Hurricanes a 4-3 mark versus the Wolfpack.
After Tahan’s victory to open play Monday, Miami met NC State in three singles matches, notching a 2-1 mark and dropping the third in a 13-11 tiebreaker. Achong and Richardson downed Racjeki and Abigail Rencheli, 6-3, while Khodan and Tahan beat Daniel and Nell Miller, 6-4.
To conclude the invitational, the Hurricanes met Texas in six singles matches and registered a 3-3 mark. Boch-Collins tacked on another win to finish the weekend 3-0 in singles and did so by taking down the ranked player for the first time as a collegian, earning a 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 decision against No. 117 Malaika Rapolu.