University of Missouri
South Dakota
Tennis Starts Spring Slate with Home Doubleheader Sunday
1/17/2025 10:15:00 AM | Tennis
COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri tennis starts the 2025 spring season with a home doubleheader on Sunday at Green Tennis Center. The Tigers welcome South Dakota and Northern Illinois to Columbia, Missouri, playing the Coyotes at 9 a.m. CT, followed by the Huskies at 3 p.m. CT.
SERIES HISTORY
Historically, Missouri has competed just once against South Dakota during the 2016-17 season, and it came away with a 4-0 win. The Tigers had a doubleheader scheduled with the Coyotes in 2022-23 that was canceled. Mizzou holds a 1-1 record versus Northern Illinois, with the first contest dating back to the 1986-87 season. MU lost to the Huskies that year, 8-1, but was able to even the record in 2005-06 with a dominant 7-0 win.
TRANSFERS
Entering the spring season, the Tigers welcome many new faces, including two transfers: graduate student Lailaa Bashir from Grand Canyon and senior Mary Brumfield, previously at Maryland.
Bashir comes to Mizzou with abundant experience from Xavier University of Louisiana, Bellarmine and GCU. The graduate transfer earned NAIA First Team All-American honors while at XULA. Additionally, she earned wins over Power Four opponents at Bellarmine and Grand Canyon.
Brumfield played three years as a Terrapin, totaling a 43-30 record in doubles and 21-24 in singles. The senior qualified for Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Fall Nationals in 2023 with her doubles partner and reached a ranking of No. 40 as a pair in February of 2024.
FRESHMEN
In addition to the transfers, head coach Bianca Turati signed four freshmen to the roster this season: Sarah Hartel, Zoe Lazar, Gian Octa and Korina Roso.
Hartel joins Mizzou by way of Heidelberg, Germany and earned a third-place finish at the U18 German National Championships. Moreover, the freshman joined forces with future teammate Roso, competing in the Subotica Open in 2022, where the duo advanced to the semifinals.
Lazar, the most recent addition to the roster, joined the team last month from Pinamar, Buenos Aires. She has represented Argentina five times, was ranked No. 1 in all junior categories, and became the U14 Master Champion.
Traveling south from Toronto, Canada, Octa comes to Columbia, Missouri, as a U18 Indoor and Outdoor Ontario Provincial Singles and Doubles Champion. The newcomer ranked in the top 10 in the Canadian Junior National Rankings (U12-U18) and finished third at the 2022 U18 Fischer Outdoor Canadian Junior Nationals.
Rounding out the freshman class, Roso from Osijek, Croatia, secured first at the International Tennis Federation J30 Moster Open 18&U in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where she earned the title out of 32 competitors in September of 2023. She held a 30-11 record for the 2023 season and advanced to the final round of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Slovenian Junior Open in Slovenia, where she competed against 64 athletes to snag the runner-up slot of the entire tournament. Roso also captured the runner-up title of the ITF Hotel Makar Open in November 2023 after competing in five rounds of play in Hungary.
RETURNERS
Returning to the courts for Mizzou are seniors Inah Canete and Sophia McLellan, and junior Andrea Artimedi. The three veterans total 83 matches of experience from last season.
Canete finished last year 4-12 in singles (No. 2) and 10-11 (No. 1) in doubles, where she played with her older sister Mae Canete. The Canete pairing was invited to and competed in the ITA Fall Championship, where they advanced to the round of 16 before falling to the No. 1 doubles team in the country, Elizabeth Scotty and Reese Brantmeier of North Carolina. Additionally, the Los Angeles native has already secured a ranked win this season, defeating No. 80 Ekaterina Khairutdinova (FIU) in straight sets at the FIU Invitational on Jan. 12.
Finishing the 2023-24 season 7-11 (primarily No. 6) in singles, Artimedi captured nine doubles wins on the season with partner Emelie Schwarte in the No. 3 spot, including back-to-back doubleheader victories over Radford and James Madison (Feb. 3), and LSU and Saint Louis. Moreover, she defeated SEC opponent from Alabama (Priya Nelson) in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1.
McLellan, an SEC Honor Roll member, saw action in six spring matches throughout the 2023-24 season. The St. Louis, Missouri native secured a singles win during the fall against the University of St. Thomas over Regina Talavera in the Drake Invite after taking the match to three sets, 3-6, 6-0, 6-4.
FOLLOW THE TIGERS
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Players Mentioned
