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No. 21 Women's Tennis topples No. 6 Stanford, 4-2
02.17.2018 | Women's Tennis
Longhorns rally behind four singles wins and pick up first victory over the Cardinal in 23 years.
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AUSTIN, Texas – No. 21 Texas (7-4) dropped the doubles point but rallied with a vengeance in singles on its way to a 4-2 victory over No. 6 Stanford (3-2) Saturday afternoon at Texas Tennis Center.
The Longhorns knocked off the Cardinal for the first time since 1995, when Texas defeated Stanford in the semifinals of the 1995 NCAA Championships en route to its second NCAA team title. It marked Texas' first win over a top-10 opponent since 2016, when the Horns defeated host No. 9 Duke in the second round of the NCAA Championships.
Stanford won doubles matches at the third and first positions to lock up the doubles point and a 1-0 match lead. The Cardinal assumed a 2-0 lead with a win at fifth singles before the Longhorns ran off four consecutive singles wins to close out the match victory.
Freshman Bojana Markovic, ranked 115th in the latest ITA singles rankings, made short work of the Cardinal's Emma Higuchi and prevailed 6-1, 6-2 at fourth singles to trim the Horns' deficit to 2-1. Freshman Marta Perez-Mur followed suit and held off Kimberly Yee by a 6-4, 6-3 count at sixth singles to even the tally at two.
The contest at first singles pitted UT's top-ranked Bianca Turati against one of the nation's top freshmen, the 26th-ranked Michaela Gordon. Turati broke Gordon for 3-all in the first set and swept the ensuing three games to claim the set, 6-3. Turati broke Gordon early on in set two on her way to a convincing 6-3, 6-2 win that gave Texas the lead for good.
At second singles, UT's 41st-ranked sophomore Anna Turati took the first set from Stanford's 109th-ranked Carolina Lampl, 7-5. Lampl assumed a 5-1 lead in the second set before Turati stormed back. Turati rallied all the way back to a 6-5 second-set lead, and she watched a Lampl forehand go beyond the baseline on match point to give Texas its 4-2 victory over the Cardinal.
POST-MATCH COMMENTS
Sophomore Anna Turati
On what it meant to get the win: We had a couple of tough weeks, we couldn't win but we were trying so hard and we kept practicing as hard as we could. This means so much to us. I's a huge win, and we did it together. I think that we're going to do great this season, but there's still a long way to go. I'm so excited to play with this team.
On her mindset in taking control of the decisive second set in her match: She (Caroline Lampl) is a really good player. She hit the ball so hard! I looked around and I had all of my teammates fighting, and that gave me energy. The fans were amazing. That helped me a lot. I kept being positive, and that helped me win the match.
On what the win means heading into a tough run of opponents on Texas' schedule: That we all know that we're a great team, but we needed some proof. This is amazing for our confidence, and I can't wait to compete again with this team.
Texas head coach Howard Joffe
On what the win means: In the context of turning a program around, in the context of this season, and then historically, it couldn't be a bigger win. Our team had performed very well individually in the fall and the cautionary words that (assistant) coach (Taylor) Fogleman and I would keep sharing with the girls is that we haven't won anything yet. If you take a cursory glance at our results this season, we've actually taken it on the chin quite a few times.
With a young team, today we started with three freshmen and three sophomores and it can be a little bit debilitating, taking the losses. So, to have a team like Stanford here, a perennial top team in the nation really, and actually pull off the win…I'm so happy for our kids. We've got this wonderful Texas Tennis Center here now, and those sophomores, several of them have played for two years at a public park and put in all of the hard yards. For them to get this win, it's basically tears of joy. It's huge for our program.
On Texas' play in singles: We definitely do have problems if you look at our results this year. The doubles are significantly weaker so we needed to try to shore that up. Yet, our ladies have played under this stress. I think seven of the eight last matches or so we've lost the doubles point.
It's not something that, with a lot of teams psychologically, you get a little down after losing the doubles point. Our ladies were just ready to go and it definitely says that we have a strong lineup, there's no question. We could go toe-to-toe with Stanford in the singles matches.
No. 21 Texas 4, No. 6 Stanford 2
Doubles – Order of Finish: 3, 1
1 No. 6 Emily Arbuthnott/Michaela Gordon (Stanford) vs. Petra Granic/Bojana Markovic (UT), 4-4, susp.
2 Caroline Lampl/Kimberly Yee (Stanford) def. Bianca Turati/Marta Perez-Mur (UT), 6-3
3 Emma Higuchi/Janice Shin (Stanford) def. Anna Turati/Fernanda Labraña (UT), 6-0
Singles – Order of Finish: 5, 4, 6, 1, 2
1 No. 1 Bianca Turati (UT) def. No. 26 Michaela Gordon (Stanford), 6-3, 6-2
2 No. 41 Anna Turati (UT) def. No. 109 Caroline Lampl (Stanford), 7-5, 7-5
3 No. 64 Petra Granic (UT) vs. No. 32 Emily Arbuthnott (Stanford), 6-2, 4-6, 5-3, susp.
4 No. 115 Bojana Markovic (UT) def. Emma Higuchi (Stanford), 6-1, 6-2
5 Janice Shin (Stanford) def. Fernanda Labraña (Texas), 6-3, 1-0, retired
6 Marta Perez-Mur (UT) def. Kimberly Yee (Stanford), 6-4, 6-3
Players Mentioned
