The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Texas Tech (NCAA Championships Round of 16)
No. 6 Women's Tennis falls to No. 11 Texas Tech, 4-1 in NCAA round of 16
05.17.2018 | Women's Tennis
Lady Raiders snap Longhorns’ 19-match winning streak in the tournament’s third round.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Texas sophomore Petra Granic closed out her 18th consecutive singles win, but 11th-seeded Texas Tech (23-6) took the doubles point and three singles matches in a 4-1 victory over the sixth-seeded Longhorns Thursday in the third round of the NCAA Championships. The Lady Raiders' snapped the Longhorns' 19-match winning streak, and Texas ends its season with a 24-5 overall record, a pair of Big 12 titles and likely a top-10 final ranking.
Thursday's contest was scheduled to be played at Wake Forest, but rain intervened and forced the relocation of half of the day's matches about 90 miles east to North Carolina's Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center.
Texas Tech led off with doubles victories at the second and third positions to win the doubles point. Tech's Felicity Maltby and Gabriela Talaba broke UT freshman Marta Perez-Mur and senior Dani Wagland in their second service game and yielded nothing further in a 6-1 win at the second position.
At third doubles, UT sophomores Anna and Bianca Turati found themselves in a 4-0 hole to Tech's Alex Valenstein and Katelyn Jackson before pulling within 4-2. The Horns were unable to get any closer, as Tech won 6-3 to finish the doubles session. UT freshman Bojana Markovic and Granic held a 5-4 lead at first doubles before the match was suspended.
Texas Tech took a 2-0 lead behind Jackson's 6-0, 6-3 victory over UT's Wagland at sixth singles. Granic pulled Texas within 2-1 with her straight-sets victory at second singles. Granic took on Valenstein and dominated the first set, where she was victorious, 6-1. Granic picked up a break on Valenstein midway through the second set and held on for a 6-1, 6-4 victory. The Croatian closes out her stellar sophomore season with an 18-match winning streak and an impressive 22-4 dual-match record.
Tech's 21st-ranked Talaba snapped top-ranked Bianca Turati's 18-match unbeaten streak and prevailed 6-4, 6-2 at first singles to give the Lady Raiders a 3-1 lead. The remaining three contests all progressed to a third set. Anna Turati rallied from one set and 5-3 down to force another set against Tech's Maltby at second singles. Texas' Markovic took the first set from Sabrina Federici at fourth singles though Federici rallied and prolonged the match.
Texas' Perez-Mur forced a third set against Tech's Dvorak in the deciding match at fifth singles. Dvorak broke Perez-Mur's serve for a 2-1 third-set lead and held serve for 3-1. Dvorak served out the match and won the final set, 6-3 to finish off the Lady Raiders' win. Anna Turati and Markovic both held 3-2 third-set leads before their matches were suspended once the team outcome had been decided.
NCAA Championships Round of 16 (Third Round)
No. 11 Texas Tech 4, No. 6 Texas 1
Doubles – Order of Finish: 2, 3
1 No. 55 Petra Granic/Bojana Markovic (UT) vs. No. 28 Sarah Dvorak/Sabrina Federici (TT), 5-4, susp.
2 Felicity Maltby/Gabriela Talaba (TT) def. Marta Perez-Mur/Dani Wagland (UT), 6-1
3 Alex Valenstein/Katelyn Jackson (TT) def. Bianca Turati/Anna Turati (UT), 6-3
Singles – Order of Finish: 6, 3, 1, 5
1 No. 21 Gabriela Talaba (TT) def. No. 1 Bianca Turati (UT), 6-4, 6-2
2 No. 30 Anna Turati (UT) vs. No. 58 Felicity Maltby (TT), 2-6, 7-5, 3-2, susp.
3 No. 64 Petra Granic (UT) def. Alex Valenstein (TT), 6-1, 6-4
4 Bojana Markovic (UT) vs. No. 106 Sabrina Federici (TT), 7-6 (2), 3-6, 3-2, susp.
5 Sarah Dvorak (TT) def. Marta Perez-Mur (UT), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
6 No. 120 Katelyn Jackson (TT) def. Dani Wagland (UT), 6-0, 6-3
POST-MATCH COMMENTS
Texas head coach Howard Joffe
This is the third time we've faced off against Texas Tech and they are a team that is laden with seniors and very good players. It's always going to be tough to beat them three times in a row. Add to that with the logistics that were pretty demanding with travel and indoors, outdoors and so forth. Ultimately, we were outplayed today. I have to give Texas Tech a lot of credit. It is disappointing for our team but it will always be a dangerous match with so many experienced players on Texas Tech's team.
Players Mentioned
