The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
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Oklahoma
Women’s Tennis Preview: No. 18 Oklahoma, No. 23 Oklahoma State
04.08.2014 | Women's Tennis
Longhorns host Sooners and Cowgirls in a pair of key conference matches.
WHAT: No. 22 Texas (10-9, 5-1 Big 12) closes out the 2014 regular season with three home conference matches. The home stand begins this weekend when the Longhorns host No. 18 Oklahoma (15-3, 5-1 Big 12) and No. 23 Oklahoma State (12-5, 6-0 Big 12).
WHEN/WHERE:
No. 18 Oklahoma at No. 22 Texas
Friday, April 11 – 6 p.m. CT
Penick-Allison Tennis Center – Austin, Texas
LIVE SCORING: TexasSports.com
No. 23 Oklahoma State at No. 22 Texas
Sunday, April 13 – 1 p.m. CT
Penick-Allison Tennis Center – Austin, Texas
LIVE SCORING: TexasSports.com
TELEVISION: Both matches will air live on Longhorn Network. Sam Gore (play-by-play) and former Longhorn Jon Wiegand (color analyst) will have the call.
LAST MEETINGS vs. OKLAHOMA AND OKLAHOMA STATE: Texas met Oklahoma and Oklahoma State during the 2013 regular season and again at the 2013 Big 12 Championship in Norman. UT defeated host Oklahoma by a 4-1 count in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Championship on April 26, 2013.
Texas defeated Oklahoma State by a 4-0 margin in the finals of the Big 12 Championship on April 28, 2013.
Texas defeated Oklahoma and Oklahoma State by identical 6-1 margins during the 2013 regular season in Austin. Texas holds a 30-1 advantage in its series with Oklahoma and a 30-4 edge against Oklahoma State.
I.T.A. NATIONAL RANKINGS (April 8, Texas only)
Singles
16. Breaunna Addison
92. Ratnika Batra
117. Elizabeth Begley
HORNS BRING FIVE-MATCH WINNING STREAK TO PENICK-ALLISON
Texas brings a five-match winning streak into this weekend's home matches against Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. The streak dates back to March 16, when Texas picked up its first win in Lubbock since 2009 and defeated Texas Tech, 5-2.
The Horns returned home the following weekend and shut out Iowa State and West Virginia by a 7-0 margins. After a bye week, Texas resumed play last weekend on the road and picked up wins over Kansas State (7-0) and Kansas (6-1).
IN A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN
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 77-13 (.856) 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 took on 10 ITA top-25 teams and faced a top-30 opponent in 11 of its 13 non-conference matches.
With conference matches this weekend against No. 18 Oklahoma and No. 23 Oklahoma State, Texas will have played 12 of its 21 matches against top-25 competition and 14 of 21 against top-35 foes. Texas will close the regular season next week against another top-25 opponent, Baylor.
CONFERENCE DOMINANCE PAYS OFF FOR ADDISON
The Big 12 Conference announced Tuesday 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 has won her last six matches, all in league play, and her two wins last weekend helped Texas to wins at Kansas State and Kansas. The reigning Big 12 Freshman of the Year has won 10 of her last 11 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 Saturday (April 5) over K-State's Petra Niedermayerova in Manhattan marked her ninth win over a ranked opponent in dual-match play. The Boca Raton, Fla., native has won her last nine singles sets, all in league play at No. 1 singles.
Addison boasts a 22-9 overall singles record and a 14-4 mark in dual matches at No. 1 singles. Additionally, Addison and senior Elizabeth Begley hold a 4-1 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 U 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 rebounded with four straight singles wins in league play, all 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 22-5 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 14-3 singles record in Big 12 play. Freshman Ratnika Batra has won all six matches and all 12 singles sets in league play at No. 3 singles.
The New Delhi, India native has won seven 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 four straight league contests at No. 4 singles without dropping a set. The native of Split, Croatia holds a 10-8 dual-match record and a win last month over USC's 76th-ranked Giuliana Olmos.
Freshman Pippa Horn has won her last five matches in league play at No. 5 singles. The Englishwoman has not dropped a set since March 14.
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 4-1 mark. Freshmen Ratnika Batra and Neda Koprcina have teamed up to win four straight matches at second doubles. Senior Juliana Gajic and freshman Pippa Horn have won five of six 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. Addison is the Big 12 Conference's highest-ranked singles player at No. 16 nationally.
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.
