May 28th, 2019
University Of Miami’s Perez-Somarriba Wins NCAA Tennis Singles Championship
Top-seeded Estela Perez-Somarriba of the University of Miami women’s tennis team came back from a set down to defeat No. 2-seeded Katarina Jokic of the University of Georgia 6-7(1), 6-2, 6-3 at the USTA National Campus to win the individual NCAA singles championship.
.@estelasomarriba is the NCAA singles champion!
Relive her title-winning victory, with all the sights, scenes and sounds from Orlando 🏆🎥 pic.twitter.com/ZfmV78J4AK
— Miami Hurricanes Women’s Tennis (@CanesWTennis) May 26, 2019
It was the first individual singles NCAA women’s championship for Miami since Audra Cohen won in 2007.
“It’s amazing. Dreams come true,” Perez-Somarriba said. “I am just really happy that I got to be here and that I was able to experience all of this. I am just really grateful to the University of Miami; the coaches, teammates and the staff, for making this possible and for helping me every single day.”
After the first three games of the final set went to deuce, Perez-Somarriba eventually ran off three straight games for a 5-1 lead before closing out the match. Jokic fought off six match points in two consecutive games before finally succumbing.
“Honestly, I have dreamt about this many, many times and I really couldn’t believe that I actually did it,” Perez-Somarriba said. “I am really happy that I got to experience this next to my coaches; they are the best.”
Two years ago Perez-Somarriba reached the semifinals at the NCAA individual tournament.
“I don’t think I have ever seen a better college tennis match in a bigger moment in my career,” Miami head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said. “It was just incredible.”
FaceTiming with your dad after winning the natty > pic.twitter.com/KaGQxpw4yx
— Miami Hurricanes Women’s Tennis (@CanesWTennis) May 26, 2019
Perez-Somarriba also broke the program record for career wins in the NCAA singles championship, improving to 12-2 in her three-year career thus far, and had a 43-5 win-loss this season.
For more info go to gocan.es/19NCAAtitle.
