The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
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No. 20 Women’s Tennis Preview: No. 14 Baylor (Senior Day)
04.16.2014 | Women's Tennis
Longhorns host Baylor in the final regular season match at UT’s Penick-Allison Tennis Center.
Video Preview: HERE
WHAT: No. 20 Texas (11-10, 6-2 Big 12) closes out the 2014 regular season with its Senior Day match against No. 14 Baylor (20-6, 8-0 Big 12). Texas seniors Elizabeth Begley and Juliana Gajic will be recognized on court five before the match.
WHEN/WHERE:
No. 14 Baylor at No. 20 Texas
Friday, April 18 – 5 p.m. CT
Penick-Allison Tennis Center – Austin, Texas
LIVE SCORING: TexasSports.com
TELEVISION: The match will air on Longhorn Network Friday at 10 p.m. CT. Sam Gore (play-by-play) and former Longhorn Jon Wiegand (color analyst) will have the call.
LAST MEETING vs. BAYLOR: Texas suffered a 4-3 defeat to Baylor on April 19, 2013 in Waco. Texas holds a 31-15 advantage in its all-time series against the Bears.
I.T.A. NATIONAL RANKINGS (April 15, Texas only)
Singles
14. Breaunna Addison
94. Ratnika Batra
119. Elizabeth Begley
BEGLEY, GAJIC SET FOR SENIOR DAY
Seniors Elizabeth Begley and Juliana Gajic will play the final home matches of their careers Friday evening against Baylor.
Begley brings an 85-45 career singles record into Friday's match. The Houston native has won Big 12 individual titles the last two seasons, and she holds a 5-3 mark in conference matches this season.
Begley won the Big 12 title at No. 6 singles as a sophomore and the league crown at No. 4 singles last season as a junior. The All-Big 12 selection was selected as the Most Outstanding Performer at the 2012 Big 12 Championship.
Gajic has won 31 singles matches and 28 doubles contests in her four seasons on the Forty Acres. Gajic and freshman Pippa Horn have won five doubles matches in Big 12 play.
FINAL MATCH AT PENICK-ALLISON
Friday's contest marks the final women's regular season match to be played at UT's Penick-Allison Tennis Center, which opened in 1986. The Penick-Allison grounds will serve as the future home of UT's Dell Medical School, which will hold its groundbreaking later this spring.
A new outdoor tennis facility for the Texas men's and women's tennis teams will be constructed near 51st and Guadalupe streets. The Texas women hold a 275-47 (.854) all-time record at Penick-Allison Tennis Center.
BIG 12 EXCELLENCE
Texas head coach Patty Fendick-McCain and her Longhorns have excelled in Big 12 Conference play during Fendick-McCain's nine-year tenure on the Forty Acres. The former Australian Open doubles champion is the only Big 12 men's or women's tennis coach to send his or her team to the finals of the Big 12 Championships in each of the last eight seasons.
Fendick-McCain and the Longhorns have won the last two Big 12 tournament titles. Texas hasn't finished outside the top-two in the Big 12 team standings in Fendick-McCain's tenure. Fendick-McCain boasts a 77-14 (.846) mark in Big 12 regular season matches.
COME ONE, COME ALL
Texas took on arguably the most challenging non-conference schedule in all of college tennis in the opening months of the season. The Longhorns faced nine ITA top-25 teams and faced a top-35 opponent in 11 of its 13 non-conference matches.
All totaled, Texas has played 11 of its 21 matches against top-25 competition and 14 of 21 against top-35 foes. Friday's match against Baylor will mark UT's 12th top-25 contest in 22 matches overall.
CONFERENCE DOMINANCE PAYS OFF FOR ADDISON
The Big 12 Conference announced April 9 the selection of University of Texas sophomore Breaunna Addison as the league's Women's Tennis Player of the Week. Addison picked up her first such honor from the league.
Addison won all six of her conference matches prior to receiving the award last week. The Boca Raton, Fla., native improved to 7-0 in league play last weekend with her straight-sets win over Oklahoma's Whitney Ritchie. The reigning Big 12 Freshman of the Year has won 11 of her last 12 matches and hasn't dropped a contest since March 8, when she fell to Michigan's ninth-ranked Emina Bektas in a third-set super-tiebreaker indoors.
Addison's convincing win over Oklahoma's Ritchie marked her 10th win over a ranked opponent in dual-match play. Addison has won her last 11 singles sets, all in league play at No. 1 singles. Addison is the Big 12 Conference's highest-ranked singles player at No. 14 nationally.
Addison boasts a 23-9 overall singles record and a 15-4 mark in dual matches at No. 1 singles. Additionally, Addison and senior Elizabeth Begley hold a 4-2 record at No. 1 doubles in league play.
Addison owns a 14-1 career mark in Big 12 regular season matches and has won 28 of 32 sets in those matches. The All-American holds an 18-1 overall record against Big 12 foes (includes fall tournament play, regular season and Big 12 Championship matches).
Last season, Addison became the third Longhorn and the first UT freshman to reach the singles semifinals at the NCAA Championships. She collected the first win by a UT freshman in the NCAA Championship singles draw since Sandy Sureephong in 1996. Addison was the first UT freshman to earn ITA singles All-America honors since Susan Gilchrist in 1990.
BEGLEY BACK ON TRACK
After dropping her first two league matches, senior Elizabeth Begley has won her last five league contests at No. 2 singles.
The Houston native has been a key contributor in conference play the last two seasons and has won Big 12 individual titles at No. 6 singles (2012) and No. 4 singles (2013).
The only player to play at all six singles positions for Patty Fendick McCain in her 17 seasons as a collegiate head coach, Begley boasts a 22-6 mark in Big 12 regular season matches.
FRESH FACES COMING ON STRONG
The middle of the Texas singles lineup features a trio of freshmen who collectively hold a 20-4 singles record in Big 12 play. Freshman Ratnika Batra has won all eight matches and 16 of 17 singles sets in league play, mostly at No. 3 singles.
The New Delhi, India native has won nine consecutive matches and hasn't dropped a contest since March 8. Batra added a top-50 win over Stanford's Caroline Doyle in non-conference play.
First-semester freshman Neda Koprcina has won six straight league contests at Nos. 3 and 4 singles in league play. The native of Split, Croatia holds a 12-8 dual-match record and a win last month over USC's 76th-ranked Giuliana Olmos.
Freshman Pippa Horn holds a 6-2 mark in league play at Nos. 4 and 5 singles.
STARTING FROM SCRATCH
Texas implemented new doubles teams at all three dual-match positions in advance of Big 12 play, and the move has largely paid off. Breaunna Addison and Elizabeth Begley won their first four league matches at No. 1 doubles and now hold a 4-2 mark.
Freshmen Ratnika Batra and Neda Koprcina have teamed up to win six straight matches at second doubles. Senior Juliana Gajic and freshman Pippa Horn have won five matches in league play at third doubles.
THE 2013-14 LONGHORNS
Under ninth-year head coach Patty Fendick-McCain, Texas returns six student-athletes from the 2012-13 squad that won UT's second consecutive Big 12 Championship and landed at No. 17 in the final ITA team rankings.
As a first-semester freshman last spring, Breaunna Addison became just the third Longhorn ever to reach the singles semifinals at the NCAA Championships and the first UT freshman to do so.
The Boca Raton, Fla., native became the first Texas freshman to earn ITA singles All-America honors since Susan Gilchrist in 1990. Addison tallied 30 singles wins and was selected as the Big 12 Conference Freshman of the Year.
Senior Elizabeth Begley has won two Big 12 individual titles and tallied 62 singles victories in her last two seasons. The Houston native earned her first ITA ranking singles ranking last fall and ranks 117th in the latest ITA singles poll.
Former Big 12 Freshman of the Year Lina Padegimaite returns after posting 13 dual-match wins last season as a junior. Classmate Annat Rabinovich added a pair of dual-match wins last season.
Texas also returns senior Juliana Gajic and sophomore Lana Groenvynck, who clinched UT's Big 12 Championship semifinal win over Texas Tech last season. Freshman Ratnika Batra reached the second round of the girls' singles draw at the 2012 Roland Garros (French Open) Junior Championships.
Freshman Pippa Horn (Norwich, Norfolk, England) competed at the last three Wimbledon Junior Championships. Freshman Neda Koprcina is Croatia's reigning under-18 national champion.
