The Miami Hurricanes women’s tennis team played at the Bedford Cup hosted by the University of North Florida this past weekend.
Freshman Sinead Lohan was the star of the tournament, winning the Flight 1 singles bracket. For the victory, the native of Ireland beat Florida’s Peggy Porter 6-2, 6-4 on Sunday. To get there, Lohan beat another Gator, Belinda Woolcock 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 in the semifinal. Before that, she rebounded after a tough first set to defeat Florida State’s Yukako Noi 6-7, 7-6, 6-3 in the quarterfinal.
“Sinead has the courage of an elite player and the humbleness of a warrior,” assistant coach Laura Vallverdu said before the finals match. “She has worked hard physically to be in the finals tomorrow and she deserves the win.”
Lohan also won the doubles finals with fellow freshman Wendy Zhang. They faced the Gators’ Woolcock and Stefani Stojik and won 8-6 for the Flight 1 crown. The journey there had them beating Florida State, North Florida and Florida International.
This continues the Hurricanes’ doubles success after Stephanie Wagner and Lina Lileikite won the Miami Fall Invite doubles by beating their teammates Monique Albuquerque and Clementina Riobueno in September. Wagner and Lileikite also made it to the finals of the consolation bracket at the Riviera All-American Championships.
More freshmen made milestones at the Bedford Cup, as Silvia Fuentes and Judith Bohnencamp got their first career doubles win in a rematch against Hailey Grillo and Laura Argente Escamilla of USF. They won 8-7. The Hurricanes lost the next match 8-7 to Central Florida.
In singles, Fuentes started the bracket with a bang as she defeated the Seminoles’ senior leader Daneika Borthwick 6-3, 6-1 on Friday. Fuentes then lost to Stojik and her singles run was over.
The Hurricanes play next at Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regionals in Atlanta starting Oct. 16. Georgia Tech hosts the Southeast region, one of 84 sites.