Senior Inah Canete is stepping up to lead the Missouri tennis team

The Missouri tennis team is much different now than it was a year ago, but perhaps the biggest difference has been the growth of player Inah Canete.

Over the past two years Inah and her sister, Mae, led the Tigers to a 21-17 doubles record playing in the top doubles slot together. The Canete sisters’ path to playing at such a high level wasn’t a traditional one either, after starting at Central Oklahoma.

“I transferred here from a D2 college,” Inah said. “Before I went to college, I hadn’t played any tennis for four or five years, really. So the fact that I was able to go get a scholarship to a college in Oklahoma, and being able to do that with my sister for the first time, that was really great.”

After both Inah and Mae earned All-America Honors during the 2021-22 season at Central Oklahoma, they earned scholarships at the University of Missouri and continued to play doubles together. In their first year, Mae and Inah excelled, going 11-6 in their matches and beating two nationally ranked teams. Inah also started to come into her own on the singles court, taking down No. 88 Maria Rizzolo of Mississippi State.

In Inah’s junior year and Mae’s senior year, the success continued, as the sisters advanced to the semifinals of the 2023 ITA Central Regional Championship.

Head coach Bianca Turati added that her own experience playing with a sister has helped Inah navigate playing with Mae in the past, and now taking on a bigger role of her own.

“I have a twin sister, so it’s kind of a unique situation, but it was pretty fun because I would see them interact when they played doubles together, like ‘Oh, that’s similar to with my sister.’ So that was kind of fun,” Turati said.

Now that Mae has graduated, Inah has seen her role on the team change.

“This is the first year where I’m playing without her, where she’s not my double’s partner,” Inah said. “She was the older person that I could look up to, and now it’s kind of switched roles for me. I know what she did super well to help me and help our team.”

Now, Inah is in the top singles court and the top doubles slot with first-year Korina Roso. Roso has been an adamant supporter of Inah as well, pointing out how much she does to help the team.

“Even before I committed and even came here, I was looking at the roster and the results of the tennis team, and obviously Inah and Mae were kicking ass in doubles,” Roso said. “So when I committed, the first thing I thought was, ‘it would be so good if I play doubles with her,’ and then it actually happened.” 

When Roso learned she would be playing with Inah, it was a surprising mixture of emotions.

“It was actually a funny story,” Roso said. “I called my parents to tell them I’m playing doubles with her, and my Mom started screaming… ‘Oh my God, that’s so good!’ So we were all really happy, but also I did feel a little bit of pressure, because I know how good she is, and I know that obviously it’s going to be difficult to replace Mae. It’s not just her sister, she’s also a very, very good player. But overall, it’s been such a pleasure on so many different levels to learn from her.”

This year is pivotal for Inah, who is now a senior. The first two events of the year, the Penn Invitational, which took place in mid-September, and the ITA Regional Championships last month, were strong showings. At the beginning of this month, Inah and the team concluded their final event of the fall season, the TCU Jae Foundation Fall Open in Fort Worth, Texas. The weekend started with a rough stretch of singles matches for the team on day one, but the Canete-Roso pairing was undefeated, going 4-0 in their doubles matches.

Even though it’s such an important time in Inah’s collegiate career, she’s chosen to focus on the process rather than accolades.

“I think the biggest one is just to stay healthy. I really just want to take it one day at a time,” Inah said. “So if I go day by day and do the little things, like coming to practice with good energy and try to do my best at practice and conditioning and lift. Even to help bring the team towards something positive, because in the long run that’s what’s going to help, it’s not going to be my individual goals that will help the team in the long run.”

That team-first mindset has put a lot of people on notice, including Turati, who had a lot to say about Inah’s role on the team.

“We’ve been working together now for a couple of years, I’ve seen a lot of changes,” Turati said. 

Turati has been able to observe those changes in real time, and it’s not just her improvement in tennis.

“When you have a sister, it’s different right,” Turati said. “Now that she’s here alone, she’s taking on a lot of responsibility. She’s taking on a leadership role, really, and also taking her tennis to the next level. But I think the tennis is a consequence of her maturing as a person. Since we have a very young team, she’s the figure that everybody now is looking up to. I’ve always believed in her so much, but she’s almost really surprising me at this point, so I’m super happy about what she’s doing.”

As a previous tennis player, Turati held the number one ITA singles spot for over three months while at Texas. Such praise of Inah’s leadership and play carries a lot of weight because of Turati’s background. However, when it comes to the leadership that Turati talks about, Inah would rather her actions speak louder than words.

“I try not to think about that. I really just try to do what I can day by day,” Inah said. “If I see someone’s down, I try to pick them up. And also if I feel down, I try to pick myself up too, because I’m a senior, so I know that my energy is also going to bounce off [the team].”

One way that Inah has shown good energy is through her patience, especially with Roso.

“Back in Europe, we don’t really practice doubles, we don’t usually play it at all,” Roso said. “Playing with someone who already has experience and is a very good person off the court has really helped me a lot because she took her time to explain the new concepts.”

Still, Inah has helped in giving advice and was very complimentary of Roso’s ability to quickly pick up a new style of play.

“She’s actually a really fast learner,” Inah said. “Doubles is something that you either can pick up naturally or it’s very slow to pick up because it’s a lot quicker. Usually you have a lot of thought in between shots, but as far as patience goes, she asks a lot of questions which makes it apparent that she wants to learn.”

Some frustration is to be expected when a highly experienced competitor plays alongside someone who’s still developing their skill set, but both players seem to take it with a positive attitude.

“I mean, obviously I’m going to get annoyed, but it’s the sport,” Inah said. “It’s the nature of the game sometimes. But if I help her, and then we can help each other, that just helps us.” 

Despite being the number one singles player, it’s very evident how much the success of the team and her own accomplishments means to Inah. It’s not only a pivotal year for Inah in her final season as a player, but it’s also a monumental year for the team as a whole.

With so much young talent on the roster, Inah is setting a standard for the expectations of players like Roso, Gian Octa and Sarah Hartel in the next few years. By helping these first-years improve their skills and setting the example for how to be a leader, Inah is setting the Missouri tennis team up for years of success.

“I knew that she was ready to be the leader of the team. I was not so sure that she believed that yet, and so having conversations really helped,” Turati said. “I want the best for her, and I think we have those tough conversations because she’s ready to take on that and take ownership for what she does.”

Inah works to exemplify a sense of accountability and responsibility on the team, especially since she knows all the eyes are on her.

“I know they really look up to [Inah], so what [she] does, they’re going to follow,” Turati said. “So it’s a lot of responsibility, but she’s ready to take that on her shoulder, and she’s doing great.”

The fall season is coming to a close, but the Tigers still have a lot of work ahead of them to accomplish their aspirations in the spring, which starts on Jan. 9 at FIU in Miami, Florida. Missouri still has so much room to grow, and with Inah leading the way behind Turati, they can achieve whatever goal they set their minds to.

Edited by Michael Stamps | mstamps@themaneater.com

Copy edited by Stella Spragg and Natalie Kientzy | nkientzy@themaneater.com

Edited by Emily Skidmore | eskidmore@themaneater.com