The No. 11 Miami Hurricanes defeated the No. 20 California Bears, 5-2, on Saturday afternoon at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center to tally their fourth win of the season.
The Hurricanes (4-1) began the afternoon strong, introducing new doubles lineups and securing the first four points of the match. Junior Audrey Boch-Collins and freshman Mia Mack swept the Bears (2-2) on Court 3 with a 6-1 win.
The other two doubles matches were closer. However, the 17th–ranked duo of fifth-year senior Daevenia Achong and redshirt sophomore Alexa Noel took down No. 12 Jessica Alsola and Katja Wiersholm, 6-4, on Court 1, giving Miami the doubles point and a 1-0 lead. Junior Isabella Pfennig and fourth-year junior Maya Tahan were down 6-5 on Court 2 when play was suspended.
The momentum carried into singles play, where the opening sets were split evenly between the teams, but Miami quickly shut the Bears down, taking the next three points. Boch-Collins defeated Erin Richardson 6-4, 6-0, and soon after, Noel collected another point with a 6-3, 6-1 victory. Tahan secured the fourth point for Miami with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Passola Folch.
The rest of the matches were played out, and Achong dropped her singles match to Wiersholm, 6-2, 6-2. The Hurricanes and the Bears split the final two matches, which both featured 10-point tiebreakers. Mack and Hannah Viller Moeller fought until the end, but Mack pulled away in a comeback victory, 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (11-9), to solidify Miami’s win. However, almost simultaneously, Pfennig fell to No. 21 Alsola 6-4, 6-7 (2-7), 1-0 (10–4).
The Hurricanes ultimately defeated Cal, 5-2, and head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews achieved a milestone of 400 wins in her 22 years in Coral Gables. After the match, she credited her accomplishments to all the players who came through the program and represented Miami on the court over the years.
“Honestly, 400 is a number I can’t even wrap my head around, but the kids have put in the work. The players have put in the work … and that’s their number. That’s not my number,” Yaroshuk-Tews said.
The Miami Hurricanes have a couple weeks off, but they look to take the momentum from Saturday’s victory with them as they begin ACC play on Feb. 24 against Boston College on the road.