BOCA RATON, Fla. – The University of Miami women’s tennis team opened its 2021 campaign Saturday afternoon with a 6-1 road victory over Florida Atlantic.
Miami (1-0) dominated doubles competition and raced out to a 3-0 lead in the match, en route to the commanding win at the FAU Tennis Complex.
“Overall, I’m just so happy to be back competing with this program,” Miami head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said. “We definitely have some things to work on, but we fought hard at every position. Good day for the Canes.”
Miami controlled doubles play from start to finish on all three courts, taking 18 of 21 games. The first win went to sophomore Selma Cadar and freshman Isabella Pfennig, who defeated Radka Buzkova and Katarina Filip, 6-1.
Moments later, redshirt senior Estela Perez-Somarriba and sophomore Florencia Urrutia finished off a 6-0 sweep of May Kimhi and Martina Kudelova to give Miami the opening point. The final match was played out, with sophomores Diana Khodan and Maya Tahan topping Natalia Boltinskaya and Louie McLelland, 6-2.
To begin singles play, second-ranked Perez-Somarriba quickly doubled the Hurricanes’ edge with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Kudelova.
Not long after Perez-Somarriba logged her 142nd singles win to extend her cushion atop Miami’s all-time leaderboard, Pfenning recorded the first victory of her career. The Gauting, Germany, native rolled past McLelland, 6-1, 6-1, to give the Hurricanes a 3-0 advantage.
Boltinskaya then got Florida Atlantic (0-1) on the board by defeating No. 102 Cadar, 6-2, 6-4. Shortly thereafter, though, Khodan ended any hopes of a comeback for the home team by completing a 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) win over Buzkova and clinching the win for Miami.
The final two matches were both played out, with the Hurricanes earning comeback victories in both contests.
First, Tahan downed Kallmunzerova, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 1-0 (10-7), and then Urrutia beat Filip, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 1-0 (10-4).
With the win, Miami improved to 32-0 all-time against Florida Atlantic, breaking a tie for its second-most wins versus any opponent.
The Hurricanes now head to Nashville, Tenn., where they will play a pair of matches next week, the first of which is Friday at 1 p.m. ET against Ole Miss.
Miami Hurricanes Athletic contributed to this column
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