Both the Miami Men’s and Women’s Tennis programs completed another season, and the women were the ones who made their mark in NCAA history. In particular, one athlete made her mark, as Estela Perez-Somarriba won a singles national championship. Let’s dive more into the 2019 season.

Women

We have to start off with Somarriba, who became the second Hurricane to ever win a singles national championship, and the first to bring home the trophy since Audra Cohen back in 2007. Somarriba had a special season on the way to the national title.

She went a staggering 28-4 against ranked opponents (19-2 vs top-50 players, 10-1 against top-25, and 5-0 against top-10) before finishing the season with a 43-5 record. That record gave her the most wins of any player in the country, and the second most all-time in a season by a Miami Hurricane.

She finished the season as an ITA All-American, the ACC Player of the Year, as well as the Honda Sport Award winner for Tennis. Additionally, she was a member of the ITA Collegiate All-Star Team.

While Somarriba was the star of the program, let’s take a quick look at how the whole team finished. Coached by Paige Yaroshuk-Tews, the team lost to Oklahoma State in the NCAA Round of 32.

The team finished 19-8 and 9-5 in the ACC. The Canes finished no. 20 in the final Oracle/ITA rankings of the season, which marks the 17th consecutive time UM has finished in the top 25. Outside of the court, the Canes were awarded ITA All-Academic Team status.

Men

The Miami Men’s Tennis team, coached by Aljosa Piric, registered another positive season in 2019, as they reached the NCAA Championship for the second consecutive season. That was the first time they accomplished that feat since 2009.

Unfortunately, the Canes couldn’t make too much noise in the tournament, as they fell to Arizona State in the First Round. UM finished the season 17-11 (7-5 in ACC). Miami ended the year outside of the top 25, as they were ranked 36th in the country in the Oracle/ITA rankings.

On the singles side, Adria Soriano Barrera had a fantastic season for the Canes, as he made the NCAA Singles Championship. Barrera lost in the Round of 64, which ended his season. He posted six wins against ranked opponents, and he never played a match this year without being ranked in the top 60.

At one point Barrera rose all the way up to no. 13 in the rankings. The Barcelona native finished the year as a member of the All-ACC Second Team. Barrera became the second male Miami Hurricane to play in the NCAA Singles Championship this decade, as Piotr Lomacki was the only other one to reach the tournament in 2016.