By Branson Hardcastle | Broadcast Reporter
Baylor women’s tennis hosted No. 17 Miami Sunday, beating the Hurricanes 4-3 in a heated match.
The Lady Bears lost the doubles point to start the match, but found their rhythm in singles play. Sophomore Angelina Shakhraichuk, freshman Livia Kraus and sophomore Jessica Hinojosa won their matches in straight sets to give Baylor a 3-1 lead.
Miami’s Perez-Somarriba and Sinead Lohan defeated Baylor’s Theresa Van Zyl and Kris Sorokolet in straight sets on courts one and two to tie the score at 3-3.
All eyes turned to court four to watch Baylor sophomore Camilla Abatte battle Miami Ana Madcur. Abbate dropped the first set 3-6, but found her footing after that.
Abbate won the second and third sets 6-2 and 6-1, losing 14 total points in those sets. In the third set up 5-1, Abbate stayed calm and collected. She managed to jump out to a 15-40 lead and had the whole crowd and her teammates chanting her name and cheering her on.
“Screaming my name in an American accent was something special,” Abbate said. “And, of course, the cheering of my team that was next to me encouraging my every points… It’s something special that really you can’t explain with words.”
On the final point, Abbate and Madcur rallied for multiple hits until Madcur hit a backhand into the net. Abbate’s teammates rushed her and Abbate cried tears of joy.
“Winning the last point was hard to explain in words,” she said. “I really wanted to bring the point home for my team.”
The Lady Bears will hit the road next weekend to face No. 24 Oregon and No. 22 Washington.
