ORLANDO, Fla. – Alexa Noel of the University of Miami women’s tennis team opened the NCAA Singles Championship with a straight-set victory Monday evening at the USTA National Campus.
After dropping the first three games against No. 34 Lisa Zaar of Pepperdine, fifth-ranked and fifth-seeded Noel won 12 of the final 17 to claim a 6-4, 6-4 triumph.
“I thought it was a tough opening round. Zaar is a tough player, coming in with an impressive record. She is tough to play, doesn’t beat herself,” Miami head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said. “But I thought Alexa today was just unwavering. She didn’t let Zaar’s style of tennis impact her decision making, which is what she needed to do.”
Noel lost each of the first two games on deuce points and then play halted during the third game due to lightning in the area. All matches moved inside, with Noel’s the last of the 12 set to resume in the six-court facility.
After a delay of two hours and 28 minutes, the players continued their match inside. Zaar earned her second early break to go ahead, 3-0, but then Noel began to take over.
The redshirt sophomore won four straight games, including the first two on deuce points, to pull ahead, 4-3. After Zaar held at deuce to even the score, Noel did the same thing in the next game—six of the first nine games went to a deciding point—to pull back in front. She then broke at love to win the first set, 6-4.
“I think she had a little bit of a slow start, even though she played a couple deuce games there in the beginning of the first set. I think Zaar made one unforced error in the first three games, so [that is a] great job on her part,” Yaroshuk-Tews said. “But I think that Alexa definitely raised her level, started to understand what the match was going to feel like and started to understand the rhythm of the match. And then once she settled in … was able to play her style and do what she wanted to do with the ball.”
Zaar, who entered the tournament at 15-2 on the season, took the first two games of the second set. Then, just as she did in the first, Noel began to assert her dominance, winning five straight games with just one even going to deuce.
The Summit, N.J., native had four match points in the eighth game, but Zaar saved them all and then broke to make it 5-4. Noel, however, let her get no closer, as she answered with a break of her own to seal a 6-4, 6-4 decision.
The triumph improved…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Women’s Tennis – University of Miami Athletics…