Miami Women’s tennis bounce back against in-state rivals, down shorthanded Florida State 6-1

After a two-game road stretch in North Carolina last weekend – where the Canes beat No. 15 Wake Forest and narrowly lost to No. 2 NC State – Miami moved up two spots in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association poll to No. 12; its highest position since 2017.

UM showed why it deserved that ranking on Friday afternoon, comfortably defeating in-state Rival No. 61 Florida State, 6-1, at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center in Coral Gables.

The Seminoles started the day at a grave disadvantage, with only five players available for action. As a result, sophomores Audrey-Boch Collins and Isabella Pfennig automatically won their doubles match by walkover.

Needing one more win to clinch the doubles point, third-year sophomores Diana Khodan and Maya Tahan, ranked No. 72, finished the job, throttling Victoria Allen and Kianah Motosono6-2.

The next match was played out, as the Canes’ best doubles pair of fourth-year junior Daevenia Achong and fifth-year senior Eden Richardson, ranked No. 16, bested Anna Arkadianou and Petra Hule6-4.

“[Our doubles’ teams] have been gelling well, ”Miami head Coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said. “Against the better teams, we need to come out a little bit faster, but the teams have been gelling well, complimenting each other well, and coming away with mostly wins.”

In singles, the Hurricanes dropped just three sets en route to a dominating performance.

First, freshman Tatyana Nikolenko won by walkover to put UM up 2-0.

On Court 3, no. 112 Pfennig made quick work of Olympe Lancelot, Downing her, 6-2, 6-2. Moments, later Miami sealed the match thanks to Diana Khodanwho hollered “Let’s Go Canes” after recording a 6-1, 6-4 decision over Motosono to Put Miami up 4-0.

Though the match was clinched, both teams decided to play out the remaining contests.

Miami’s highest-ranked player, No. 56 Achong, registered a Sensational come-from-behind Victory on Court 2, taking down Allen, 2-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-3), in a match decided by a third-set tiebreaker to 10.

Well. 58 Richardson, who moved up 23 spots in the ITA singles rankings this week, valiantly fought no. 16 Petra Hule before eventually losing 6-4, 7-5, to give Florida State its Lone point of the day.

Finishing things off, Boch-Collins defeated Arkadianou, 6-3, 7-5, to make the final score, 6-1.

“FSU is a tough team; I don’t care if they are 6-5, “Yaroshuk-Tews said. “They are good at the top of their lineup… so I think to get out there and take care of business, especially [on Courts 2 and 3] today, was big for us. ”

“Obviously, there an in-state rivalry, i.e. there a lot of fire, there a lot of energy coming from the opponent, ”Yaroshuk-Tews continued. “You saw that a little bit today, but I thought we managed it well.”

With the Victory, Miami (9-2, 4-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) now moves to 37-9 all-time versus the Seminoles (6-6, 1-4 ACC), including 16-2 at home.

Back in the win column, the Canes travel to Blacksburg, where they will face Virginia Tech on Friday as part of their two-game Virginia road stretch. The match begins at 3:00 pm