“I think they’ve been playing great doubles all year. So, I think that this is just about continuing to do what they’ve done the entire season,” Yaroshuk-Tews said. “They work very well together and they’re both very established doubles players, as everybody is in this tournament. I think the energy they bring, [along with the] strategy, the good mindset, the volleys and the aggressive play, I think that they could do some damage.”
“Listen, these are the best players in the country. We didn’t play our best tennis today, but I think that had a lot to do with the players that we played, our opponents,” Miami head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said. “We’ve got to do better against high-level competition. We’ve got to push a little harder. We’ve got to believe a little more.”
“Look, Pepperdine played a great match today. They’re led by two star players at one and two. The bottom line is, I just think they were better than us,” Miami head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said. “They played better than us; the level was a little higher than where we are right now. It’s a tough one to swallow when that’s the last one of the season, but that’s typically how they end unless you’re going to win a title.”
“I’m proud of all of our teams, but especially proud of [the women’s team] … they just really, really wanted it,” track & field director Amy Deem said. “We had to work really hard to get to this point. I don’t think anybody coming into the championships, except us, expected us to do this. From the first day to the end, they just kept fighting and kept fighting. I’m just very, very proud of this group.”
“[UCF] is physical … the weather isn’t really an issue for them,” Miami head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said. “You just have to raise it another notch, and we were able to do that today.”
“We came out and played great doubles,” Yaroshuk-Tews said. “I did not love our start in singles, across the board ... but we figured it out, we stayed calm and got the win.”
The Canes traveled to Baton Rouge for the LSU Alumni Gold on Saturday and returned to Coral Gables with eight personal bests – four on the track and four in the field events.
“Good tennis match. Obviously, not perfect,” Miami head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said. “They played a little better than us in the big moments and that’s why they walk away with the match. I give credit to Duke. They played a great match, they played aggressive, they played well when they were down and they deserved the victory.”
“[We were] just tough when we were down. Even though we weren’t down the whole match, it seemed like we were,” Miami head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said. “I think, all-around, it was a tough match. I don’t think the girls really knew what was going on the entire match, but we hung in there. We knew we had winnable matches on every court.”
