The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
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Kansas
No. 25 Women's Tennis tops No. 27 Kansas, 4-1
04.21.2017 | Women's Tennis
Longhorns knock off Jayhawks with four singles victories on Senior Day.
AUSTIN, Texas – No. 25 Texas (11-7, 5-3 Big 12) dropped the doubles point but won all four singles decisions in a 4-1 victory over No. 27 Kansas (12-8, 4-4 Big 12) Friday evening at the Whitaker Courts.
Kansas claimed the doubles point, but given the Jayhawks had only five players available, the match was effectively tied immediately after doubles due to KU's default at No. 6 singles. With the match knotted at one, the contest became a best-of-five scenario where Texas ultimately prevailed.
Texas freshman Petra Granic, ranked 72nd in the latest ITA women's singles poll, made short work of KU's Janet Koch and won 6-1, 6-2 at third singles to give the Horns a lead they would not relinquish. Senior Neda Koprcina remained unbeaten in conference play on Senior Day and posted a 6-2, 6-3 win over Tess Bernard-Feigenbaum at second singles to stake Texas to a 3-1 lead.
The remaining three matches went to third sets, and it was the Longhorns' Dani Wagland who sealed the victory for Texas. The Australian rebounded from a 6-3 second-set defeat to put away the Jayhawks' Tatiana Nikolaeva at fifth singles. Wagland broke Nikolaeva for a 5-3 third-set lead and held serve in the ensuing game to put away the match and the team victory for Texas. The remaining two courts were suspended.
Texas wraps up its regular season on Sunday when it hosts Kansas State. First serve is set for 11 a.m. Central at the Whitaker Courts.
POST-MATCH COMMENTS
Texas head coach Howard Joffe
On the win: More than any one thing I think this is the time of the season when you want to get some momentum heading into the conference tournament and NCAA Tournament. I really don't feel like we played terribly well, which at some level is discouraging. On the other hand, Kansas is a good team and we definitely fought. There's no question for this young team that the fight, the effort and the resilience are there. My hope would be that we'll turn up on Sunday and the quality of play is better against Kansas State so that we can go up to Norman for the conference tournament and make it a little bit more easy on us.
On senior Neda Koprcina's meaning to the program: There's been a transition with a number of changes of coaches, a lack of an on-campus facility, an anemic roster and all the while all Neda has done is show up. Her record just speaks for itself. All she does is win. So when you look at this time in the program, with an achievement like making the Sweet 16 last year, Neda's been the backbone of this program for the last four years. My hope is that we can build on it and have a national powerhouse team going forward. But, Neda has basically, without beating a bad pun to death, been the backbone of the program.
No. 25 Texas 4, No. 27 Kansas 1
Doubles – Order of Finish: 2, 1
1 No. 30 Nina Khmelnitckaia/Tess Bernard-Feigenbaum (KU) def. No. 84 Petra Granic/Bianca Turati (UT), 7-6 (5)
2 Janet Koch/Anastasia Rychagova (KU) def. Neda Koprcina/Anna Turati (UT), 6-2
3 Daniella Roldan/Dani Wagland (UT) won by default
Singles – Order of Finish: 6, 3, 2, 5
1 No. 40 Bianca Turati (UT) vs. No. 74 Anastasia Rychagova (KU), 6-3, 4-6, 1-2, susp.
2 No. 79 Neda Koprcina (UT) def. Tess Bernard-Feigenbaum (KU), 6-2, 6-3
3 No. 72 Petra Granic (UT) def. Janet Koch (KU), 6-1, 6-2
4 Anna Turati (UT) vs. Nina Khmelnitckaia (KU), 7-6 (3), 3-6, 2-1, susp.
5 Dani Wagland (UT) def. Tatiana Nikolaeva (KU), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
6 Daniella Roldan (UT) won by default
Players Mentioned
