CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- Miami (Fla.) defeated No. 72 Ohio State 4-2 in a dual match on the first day of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center. The Hurricanes will play LSU on Saturday in the finale.
The 29th-ranked doubles team of Clementina Riobueno and Monique Albuquerque showed consistency in an impressive victory against Ohio State’s doubles team of Grainne O’Neill and Sandy Niehaus, 6-4.
On the next court, the doubles pair of Melissa Bolivar and Kelsey Laurente won its match 6-4 against Gabriella De Santis and Miho Kowase.
The Hurricanes clinched the doubles point with the match between senior Brittany Dubins and sophomore Stephanie Wagner and Buckeyes Ferny Angeles Paz and Noelle Malley still in progress.
Albuquerque dominated Malley to a 6-0, 6-0 win in straight sets to notch the first singles victory against Ohio State.
Wagner powered past De Santis in a grueling match that resulted in her winning in a third-set tiebreaker. Wagner won the first set 6-3, fell in the second set 4-6 and won the 10-point tiebreaker 10-4.
Bolivar clinched the dual match for the Canes when she beat Nicole Flower in three sets 4-6, 6-3, and 10-7.
Riobueno battled in her singles match, but could not defeat Niehaus. She won the first set 6-4, but fell in the second set 7-5 and dropped the tiebreaker 11-9.
Miami’s Lina Lileikite showed great competitiveness, but fell short in her match against Angeles Paz. After dropping the first set 6-3, Lileikite evened the match with a 7-6 victory in the second set. She could not hold off Paz in the tiebreaker, falling 10-5.
No. 1 Stanford 7, UC Davis 0
STANFORD, Calif. -- Stanford easily cruised past UC Davis 7-0 on Friday afternoon in the season opener for both teams at Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
Collecting win No. 900 in program history, Stanford (1-0) captured the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead. The Cardinal allowed only three games combined during three doubles courts.
Stanford dominated singles play against UC Davis (0-1), with Ellen Tsay providing the clincher while all three Cardinal freshmen picked up wins in their dual match debuts.
Taylor Davidson put Stanford ahead 2-0 following her 6-0, 6-0 win against Kamila Kecki at the No. 6 spot.
Krista Hardebeck rolled to a 6-0, 6-1 victory on court two, extending Stanford’s advantage to 3-0.
Tsay booked a 6-0, 6-1 win on court five to secure the match, seconds before Caroline Doyle came through with a 6-0, 6-0 victory at the No. 5 position.
Carol Zhao added a 6-2, 6-1 win at the No. 3 spot while Kristie Ahn delivered a 6-3, 6-0 triumph in her third career appearance at the top of the lineup.
No. 4 Georgia 4, Elon 0
ATHENS, Ga. -- Fourth-ranked Georgia won its season opener against Elon 4-0, advancing to Sunday’s ITA Kick-Off Weekend championship match against No. 51 Arkansas.
Georgia (1-0) quickly won the doubles point and then followed with four consecutive singles wins.
“I thought we played great today,” head coach Jeff Wallace said. “We got through doubles really looking pretty good and then followed it up with a great job in singles. We’re looking forward to playing Arkansas on Sunday.”
Kate Fuller and Silvia Garcia blanked Elon’s Taylor Casey and Maria Camara Ruiz 6-0. The No. 5 pair of Lauren Herring and Maho Kowase clinched the doubles point with a 6-2 win against Elon’s Jordan Johnston and Frida Jansaker. The duo of Caroline Brinson and Lilly Kimbell led 5-1 when their match was suspended.
In singles, No. 10 Silvia Garcia was first off the court with a 6-0, 6-2 win against Elon’s Frida Jansaker. No. 25 Maho Kowase gave the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead with a 6-1, 6-0 victory against Barbora Lazarova. Shortly after, No. 4 Lauren Herring clinched the Bulldog win with a shutout of No. 69 Jordan Johnston. Kate Fuller was leading Bryn Khoury 6-4, 3-0 when the match was suspended.
No. T5 UCLA 4, San Diego 0
LOS ANGELES -- UCLA won its opening match of ITA Kick-Off Weekend at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on Friday afternoon and has earned a right to play in Saturday's championship match at 3:00 p.m.
The Bruins (2-0) looked impressive against San Diego in Friday's opening round, taking a 4-0 victory against the Toreros.
UCLA was paced on the day by the No. 1-ranked player in the nation in both singles and doubles Robin Anderson. Anderson teamed with freshman Jennifer Brady at court No. 1, taking a 6-1 victory against USD's Shani Blecher and Colomba Di Filippo. Anderson then notched a perfect performance against Blecher in singles, winning 6-0, 6-0.
Other singles winners for UCLA on the day were sophomores Catherine Harrison and Kyle McPhillips. Harrison was a 6-1, 6-0 winner against Mikayla Morkel-Brink, while McPhillips, ranked No. 36 nationally, downed Di Filippo, 6-0, 6-2 to clinch the victory for UCLA.
No. T5 Southern California 4, No. 60 North Texas 0
LOS ANGELES -- Neither a new set of rules nor a last-minute change in the line-up could shake the Women of Troy, as they took down North Texas 4-0 to open up their dual match season.
In addition, senior Brynn Boren, ranked No. 96 in the nation in singles and No. 3 in doubles when paired with freshman Zoë Katz, sat out against the Mean Green, causing a change at the third doubles slot and throughout the singles line-up.
Despite the possible distractions, juniors Zoë Scandalis and Giuliana Olmos, ranked No. 7 in the nation together, got USC off to a hot start, taking down North Texas’ Augustina Valenzuela and Dane Joubert 6-0.
Meanwhile, junior Sabrina Santamaria and senior Kaitlyn Christian -- the reigning NCAA doubles champions -- reasserted their dominance at the top doubles spot with a 6-1 win against North Texas’ Kamilla Galieva and Anastasiya Shestakova. Their victory earned USC the doubles point and suspended play with Katz and sophomore Ellie Yates up 4-1 against North Texas’ Ana Sofia Cordero and Alexis Thoma.
The Women of Troy moved into the singles competition against the Mean Green with intense momentum, exemplified by Christian’s swift 6-0, 6-0 blanking of North Texas’ Joubert.
Olmos, the No. 60 singles player in the nation, moved up one spot to Court 3, and followed suit by beating Valenzuela, 6-1, 6-2.
Yates stepped into the starting line-up at the five-spot and clinched the match for the Women of Troy with a 6-3, 6-0 victory against North Texas’ Cordero.
No. 8 California 4, No. 66 Santa Clara
BERKELEY, Cal. -- Lynn Chi’s singles win clinched California’s 4-0 victory against Santa Clara on the first day of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend on Friday at the Hellman Tennis Complex. The Golden Bears, playing in their first dual match of the season, will play No. 43 Washington on Saturday for the right to advance to the ITA National Women’s Team Indoor Championships.
The team of senior Anett Schutting and freshman Maegan Manasse clinched the doubles point for Cal, as the duo beat Katie Le and Daniella Silva 6-0. Earlier, Chi paired with fellow sophomore Klara Fabikova to defeat the Broncos’ Nikki Wolny and Stephanie Skaras 6-1.
In singles, Cal went ahead 2-0 when Fabikova made quick work of Skaras, 6-1, 6-0. The 31st-ranked Manasse followed with a 6-0, 6-2 win against Delphine Rouvillois to give Cal a 3-0 lead.The 95th-ranked Chi wrapped up the match when she dispatched Silva, 6-1, 7-6(2).
No. 10 Duke 4, No. 57 Columbia 0
DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke secured the 4-0 victory against Columbia in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend with solid singles play which followed a highly contested doubles point.
The Blue Devils had their work cut out for them in doubles as Columbia features two of the top-25 ranked doubles tandems in the nation. The Duke duo of Marianne Jodoin and Alyssa Smith got things started quickly as the Blue Devils went ahead 4-0 and ended up cruising to a 6-1 victory against Tiana Takenaga and Ioana Alecsiu.
The 14th-ranked Duke tandem of Annie Mulholland and Ester Goldfeld faced Columbia’s 20th-ranked Crystal Leung and Tina Jiang. The Lions went ahead 1-0 and never trailed in a very tight match. Duke stormed back to even the match at 5-5, before the Lions took the next two points to close the win, 7-5.
The doubles point came down to court one with Columbia’s 24th-ranked Bianca Sanon and Kanika Vaidya against Duke’s Beatrice Capra and Hanna Mar. After Columbia took an early 1-0 lead, Duke came back to go ahead 3-1 before the Lions evened the ledger at 3-3. Duke led 3-1 early in the tiebreaker before the Lions tied the ledger at 4-4, but the Blue Devils responded with three consecutive points and won 7-6 (7-4).
After securing the doubles point, the Blue Devils asserted themselves in singles action. Smith won the team’s first singles match, dominating Columbia’s Leung, 6-1, 6-1. Rachel Kahan followed in suit, winning against Columbia’s Ioana Alecsiu 6-2, 6-1 to give the Blue Devils a 3-0 advantage.
Jodoin concluded the contest with an exclamation point for Duke, not conceding a single game against Columbia’s Takenaga. The decisive 6-0, 6-0 victory secured the fourth point needed for Duke to defeat Columbia and advance the Blue Devils to the championship match scheduled for Saturday.
