The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
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Baylor
No. 5 Women’s Tennis Preview: No. 25 Baylor (Senior Day)
04.18.2018 | Women's Tennis
Longhorns can win the Big 12 title outright with a win over the Bears.
No. 25 Baylor (16-11, 4-4 Big 12) at No.5 Texas (18-4, 8-0 Big 12)
Friday, April 20 – 5 p.m. CT
Texas Tennis Center – Austin, Texas
Live Scoring: www.hookem.at/WTNScoring
Live Video: www.hookem.at/WatchTennis
*Senior Dani Wagland will be recognized on the court following the match.
LAST TIME OUT
Texas swept Iowa State and West Virginia by identical 4-0 margins last weekend in Austin.
TEXAS CLINCHES SHARE OF BIG 12 TITLE
Last Sunday, Texas clinched a share of its first Big 12 regular season title in 11 years by way of its 4-0 home win over West Virginia. The Longhorns can win the title outright on Friday with a victory over Baylor. Texas has secured the top seed at next week's Big 12 Championships in Austin given that the Longhorns defeated their nearest challenger in the Big 12 standings, Kansas, during the regular season in Lawrence.
13 UP, 13 DOWN
Texas stretched its winning streak to 13 matches over the weekend with its victories over Iowa State and West Virginia. The Longhorns last won 13 consecutive matches in 2005 on its way to the NCAA title match. A win Friday would give Texas its first winning streak of 14 matches or more since 2000, when UT won 17 straight matches.
The Longhorns' 13-match winning streak dates back to Feb. 16 when Texas knocked off South Florida in its inaugural match at Texas Tennis Center. UT has not lost a match since Feb. 11 when it fell to Ole Miss at the ITA National Team Indoor Championship.
Texas holds a staggering 44-4 record in singles matches through its 13-match winning streak. UT is 19-9 in doubles and has won nine of 11 doubles points contested in that span (doubles matches were not played against Florida).
TEXAS CRACKS THE TOP FIVE
Texas moved up one spot to No. 5 in the April 10 release of the Oracle/ITA Division I Women's Team Rankings, and the Longhorns remained at No. 5 this week. UT holds a top-five rank for the first time since February of 2006, when Texas ranked third nationally.
Texas had moved up to a season-high No. 6 in the ITA team poll on April 3, which marked UT's first top-six national ranking since April 17, 2012 (No. 6).
On March 20, Texas made its first appearance among the top-10 of the ITA women's team rankings since 2012. UT climbed four spots from No. 12 to No. 8 nationally, which marked the Horns' first top-10 ranking since May 29, 2012, when Texas ranked tenth.
TEXAS TOPS THE BIG 12
Texas takes a perfect 8-0 league mark into its regular-season finale against Baylor this week. UT kicked off conference play with a couple of big road wins last month. UT visited No. 17 Kansas and held on for a 4-2 victory in Lawrence (March 16). The Longhorns dropped all six first sets at No. 40 Kansas State but seized control of the match and put away a 4-0 win in Manhattan (March 18).
Texas remained unbeaten in Big 12 action and ran its winning streak to eight matches with impressive home wins over No. 49 Oklahoma and No. 12 Oklahoma State. The Longhorns blanked the Sooners, 4-0 (March 23) before defeating the Cowgirls (March 25) by the same 4-0 margin in the weekend finale.
Texas scored a convincing 4-0 win over No. 12 Florida on Easter Sunday in Orlando before resuming league play with its victories at TCU and Texas Tech. The Longhorns improved to 8-0 with their victories over Iowa State and West Virginia.
Texas sits atop the Big 12 standings with its 8-0 mark while Kansas sits one-and-a-half games back at 6-1 in league play.
STILL THE ONE
Texas sophomore Bianca Turati held on to the top spot in Tuesday's release of the ITA national women's singles rankings for the sixth week in a row. She initially took the top spot on Feb. 7 and became the first Longhorn to ascend to No. 1 since Kelly Pace in 1995. Turati dropped to No. 4 in the Feb. 21 rankings before moving back to No. 1 on March 6.
Bianca's twin sister Anna Turati ranks 28th in the latest ITA singles rankings while UT sophomore Petra Granic ranks 69th in singles. Granic ranks 41st alongside freshman Bojana Markovic in doubles.
GRANIC EARNS SECOND BIG 12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONOR.
The Big 12 Conference announced April 10 the selection of Texas sophomore Petra Granic as the league's Women's Tennis Player of the Week. Granic earned her second selection in the last month and picked up the fifth such honor for a Longhorn this season.
Granic extended her singles winning streak to nine matches and added another victory over a ranked opponent as Texas swept TCU and No. 15 Texas Tech on the road. Granic, who hasn't dropped a match since Feb. 11, knocked off TCU's Marie Norris and Texas Tech's 84th-ranked Federici in the Longhorns' victories over the Horned Frogs and Lady Raiders.
She handed Tech's Federici her first Big 12 loss and just her third dual-match defeat of the season, which also was her first loss in six matches. Granic leads all Big 12 players with her eight wins in league play.
BIANCA TURATI TABBED BIG 12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK
The Big 12 Conference announced April 3 the selection of Bianca Turati as the league's Player of the Week. Turati helped Texas to its ninth straight victory with a straight-sets win over Florida's 19th-ranked Anna Danilina, as the Longhorns dealt the 12th-ranked Gators a 4-0 defeat at the USTA College Match Day event in Orlando.
The 2017 Big 12 Conference Freshman of the Year initially earned the honor on Jan. 30, and her twin sister Anna won the first such honor of the season on Jan. 16.
ALL THEY DO IS (T)WIN
Twin sophomores Bianca and Anna Turati have locked down the top-two spots in the Longhorns' singles lineups with consistently strong performances all season. The Turati twins have won their last 17 singles matches between them with nine straight wins for Anna and eight consecutive victories for Bianca.
Bianca Turati boasts an impressive 26-2 overall singles mark with a 14-1 record in dual matches. Her only two defeats have come at the hands of Duke's fourth-ranked Samantha Harris and 15th-ranked Arianne Hartono of Ole Miss.
Last fall, Bianca Turati toppled the nation's then-No. 1 player, Ena Shibahara of UCLA, on her way to the semifinals at the ITA National Fall Championships. Last month she defeated former national No. 1 Anastasia Rychagova of Kansas in the Horns' 4-2 win over the Jayhawks.
Bianca Turati won the ITA Texas Regional Championships last fall to earn her spot in the ITA National Fall Championships. She is 3-1 against ITA top-10 players, 8-2 against the top-25, 10-2 against top-50 players and 16-2 against ITA top-100 opponents.
Anna Turati brings a 21-2 overall singles record to this week's match. She moved to the No. 2 slot in the singles lineup and has hardly missed a beat, going 11-1 since the move. Anna Turati has not dropped a match since Feb. 9, when she fell to Georgia's 45th-ranked Kennedy Shaffer.
Anna Turati holds an impressive 8-1 singles record against ITA top-ranked opponents with four of those wins over top-50 foes.
GRANIC GAINING GROUND
At 26-11 overall and 15-4 in dual matches, sophomore Petra Granic rides a wave of momentum in conference play. The 69th-ranked Croatian has won her last 11 singles decisions dating back to Feb. 16. Granic has knocked off Texas Tech's 84th-ranked Sabrina Federici, Oklahoma State's 87th-ranked Katarina Stresnakova and Ohio State's 116th-ranked Olivia Sneed along the way.
Last fall, Granic defeated Wake Forest's 28th-ranked Emma Davis on her way to the final at the Debbie Southern Fall Classic. She reached the final at the ITA Texas Regional Championships where only her top-ranked teammate Bianca Turati could keep her from winning the title.
Granic has joined freshman Bojana Markovic to form a potent doubles pair at the first slot. Granic and Markovic have won eight of their last 10 doubles decisions and rank 41st nationally.
MAKING HER MARK
Freshman Bojana Markovic has given head coach Howard Joffe another reliable presence in the middle of the lineup. The newcomer from Serbia is 16-8 overall in singles with a 10-5 mark in dual matches. Markovic has won six of her last eight singles decisions and eight of her last 10 doubles matches with Petra Granic. She recently clinched the Longhorns' 4-0 victory over No. 12 Florida on Easter Sunday.
POLUTA, PEREZ-MUR PACK POWERFUL PUNCH
Freshman Marta Perez-Mur and junior Katie Poluta have made significant contributions to the Longhorns' 11-match winning streak.
Perez-Mur has won her last eight singles decisions dating back to the Longhorns' win over South Florida (Feb. 16). The Spaniard is 6-2 at fifth singles with a 10-4 record in all dual matches. She clinched UT's 4-2 victory at No. 15 Texas Tech with her come-from-behind win over Tech's 104th-ranked Sarah Dvorak.
Poluta has not sustained a loss since Oct. 28 at the Roberta Alison Fall Classic. The South African is 4-0 in dual matches and 10-4 overall.
HORNS HEATING UP IN DOUBLES
Texas endured a challenging early-season stretch when it surrendered the doubles point in six straight matches. However, the Longhorns have taken great strides in the matches since, as Texas has claimed 10 of its last 13 doubles points contested. UT has won six of eight doubles points contested thus far in Big 12 play.
TEXAS TOPS STANFORD
Texas dropped the doubles point but rallied with a vengeance in singles on its way to a 4-2 victory over then-No. 6 Stanford at Texas Tennis Center (Feb. 17).
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.
HORNS RIGHT AT HOME AT TEXAS TENNIS CENTER
The Texas women christened their new $20 million Texas Tennis Center with a 6-1 win over South Florida (Feb. 16). The Longhorns were previously scheduled to open their new home with a doubleheader on Jan. 20, but inclement weather forced a relocation of the matches indoors. The next day, Texas notched its first victory over then-No. 6 Stanford in 23 years.
UT remains unbeaten at Texas Tennis Center with additional victories over Michigan, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Iowa State and West Virginia.
Players Mentioned
