The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Ohio State
No. 18 Women's Tennis shuts out No. 11 Ohio State, 4-0
03.04.2018 | Women's Tennis
Longhorns win a tight doubles session before putting away three singles victories.
AUSTIN, Texas – No. 18 Texas (8-4) gutted out a pair of hard-fought doubles wins and finished off three singles matches on its way to a 4-0 victory over No. 11 Ohio State (5-3) Sunday afternoon at Weller Tennis Center.
The contest was scheduled to be played outdoors, but wet weather prompted the relocation indoors and off-campus to Weller Tennis Center. Texas and Ohio State engaged in a spirited doubles session that went in favor of the Longhorns. The Buckeyes were victorious at second doubles, but Texas fought its way back into the remaining matches at the first and third positions.
UT sophomore Petra Granic joined freshman Bojana Markovic to knock off OSU's 15th-ranked duo of Anna Sanford and Shiori Fukuda at first doubles. At third doubles, junior Katie Poluta and sophomore Anna Turati recorded consecutive service breaks of OSU's Emma DeCoste and Danielle Wolf to close out a 7-5 win and give Texas the doubles point.
Much like the doubles, the singles session was competitive on each court. Three of the matches progressed to first-set tiebreakers, and the Longhorns took all three. UT freshman Marta Perez-Mur dropped her first set to OSU's Wolf at fifth singles, but the Spaniard stormed back to take the next two sets, 6-1, 6-1 to stake the Horns to a 2-0 lead.
The 39th-ranked Anna Turati fought off OSU's 64th-ranked Fukuda and won a first-set tiebreaker, 7-3. She overpowered Fukuda in the second set, 6-1 to give the Longhorns a comfortable 3-0 cushion.
At third singles, UT's 54th-ranked Granic held off OSU's 72nd-ranked Olivia Sneed in a first-set tiebreaker, 7-3. Granic found herself in a 3-0 second-set hole, but she turned the match back in her favor and produced a 7-5 second-set win that closed out Texas' 4-0 victory over the Buckeyes. The remaining matches were suspended in third sets.
Texas takes on another Big Ten Conference foe in its next match when it meets Michigan next Sunday at Texas Tennis Center.
POST-MATCH COMMENTS
Texas head coach Howard Joffe
If there is such thing as a character win, that definitely was. Firstly, I think one of the things that was unfortunate for us was that we were playing a very good indoor team in Ohio State. It definitely presented us with some challenges after practicing all week in the good weather, as you could tell. They pounced on us in the doubles. We were able to scratch and claw and figure out how to win the doubles. I think that dynamic was emblematic in singles, the same thing. We were down on many courts. But, we just hung in there and fought. I don't know if there's a lot to take home in terms of the tennis. We'll live to fight and play better tennis another day. But we have a very young team gaining confidence, winning doubles and closing out matches. This was worth its weight.
No. 18 Texas 4, No. 11 Ohio State 0
Doubles – Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3
1 Petra Granic/Bojana Markovic (UT) def. No. 15 Anna Sanford/Shiori Fukuda (OSU), 6-4.
2 Mary Beth Hurley/Olivia Sneed (OSU) def. Bianca Turati/Marta Perez-Mur (UT), 6-1
3 Anna Turati/Katie Poluta (UT) def. Emma DeCoste/Danielle Wolf (OSU), 7-5
Singles – Order of Finish: 5, 2, 3
1 No. 4 Bianca Turati (UT) vs. Anna Sanford (OSU), 4-6, 7-6 (4), 2-0, susp.
2 No. 39 Anna Turati (UT) def. No. 64 Shiori Fukuda (OSU), 7-6 (3), 6-1
3 No. 54 Petra Granic (UT) def. No. 72 Olivia Sneed (OSU), 7-6 (3), 7-5
4 Bojana Markovic (UT) vs. Emma DeCoste (OSU), 6-2, 2-6, 4-3, susp.
5 Marta Perez-Mur (UT) def. Danielle Wolf (OSU), 3-6, 6-1, 6-1
6 Katie Poluta (UT) vs. Mary Beth Hurley (OSU), 7-6 (2), 5-2, susp.
Players Mentioned
