The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Middle Tennessee State
No. 6 Women's Tennis preview: ITA Kick-off Weekend
01.25.2019 | Women's Tennis
Longhorns begin the 2019 dual-match season on Saturday (11 a.m. CT) by hosting Middle Tennessee State.
No. 6 Texas in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend
When: Saturday, Jan. 26 and Sunday, Jan. 27
Where: Texas Tennis Center (Austin, Texas)
Match Schedule
Saturday, Jan. 26 (First 50 fans will receive a FREE Texas winter hat)
11 am CT – Texas vs. Middle Tennessee State (South Courts)
11 am CT – Baylor vs. Wichita State (North Courts)
Sunday, Jan. 27
10 am CT – Consolation Match (North Courts)
1 pm CT – Championship Match (North Courts)
Match Notes
Host Site: Texas is one of 15 programs to serve as host sites for the 2019 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Kick-Off Weekend. The annual ITA Kick-Off Weekend features 15 "regionals" played on both the men's and women's side, with four teams competing in each regional. The winners of the single-elimination event advance to the ITA Division I National Team Indoor Championships on Feb. 8-11 in Seattle. Washington, who serves as the women's host school for the National Team Indoors, receives an automatic invitation to the event and is exempt from competing in the 2019 ITA Kick-Off Weekend.
Series Records
Middle Tennessee State: First meeting
Baylor: Texas leads, 33-18. Last meeting: UT 4-1 (April 28, 2018; Austin)
Wichita State: Texas leads, 3-0. Last meeting: UT 5-0 (Jan. 26, 2013; Austin)
Home Perfection at the TTC: The Longhorns are in their second season at the Texas Tennis Center. During its inaugural season, Texas posted a perfect 13-0 mark at the TTC.
Team Rankings: Texas is No. 6 in the lates Oracle ITA Collegiate Division I team national rankings (Jan. 9). UT is the highest-rated Big 12 Conference in the poll, which also featured Oklahoma State (9), Kansas (16) and Texas Tech (18).
Individual Rankings: Four UT players are featured in the Top 80 of the latest Oracle/ITA national singles rankings (Nov. 14): junior Anna Turati (No. 49), junior Petra Granic (No. 53), freshman Tijana Spasojevic (No. 63) and sophomore Fernanda Labraña (No. 77).
Big 12 Preseason Favorite: Texas is picked to win the Big 12 Conference title in a preseason vote of the league coaches, the conference office announced Jan. 8. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own teams. UT claimed the top spot in the poll, earning seven of a possible nine first-place votes and 79 points in polling for the 2019 season. Kansas received three first-place votes and 73 points to place second, while Oklahoma State was tabbed third with 63 points. Rounding out the poll in descending order were: Texas Tech, Baylor, TCU, Oklahoma, Kansas State, Iowa State and West Virginia.
Granic Earns Big 12 Honor: Junior Petra Granic earned Big 12 Conference Women's Tennis Player of the Week honors on Jan. 22. She posted five consecutive wins en route to capturing the singles title at the prestigious Freeman Memorial Championships in Las Vegas (Jan. 18-20). During the three-day tourney, Granic dropped just one set in her five singles matches. The tourney featured players from six of the top 11 teams in the nation in the most recent ITA rankings, including No. 1 Stanford, No. 3 North Carolina, No. 7 Pepperdine, No. 8 UCLA and No. 11 Florida in addition to host UNLV. In addition, she teamed with freshman Tijana Spasojevic to record a 2-1 mark in doubles play in the tournament.
She is Special: Junior All-American Bianca Turati claimed the No. 1 spot in the preseason ITA national singles rankings on Sept. 11. The 2018 Big 12 Conference Player of the Year, she posted a 28-4 overall singles mark and ended her sophomore season at No. 3 in the final Oracle/ITA Division I singles rankings. Turati spent nearly three months atop the ITA women's singles rankings and produced a 16-2 dual-match record for the Longhorns at the No. 1 singles position in 2018. She became the first UT player to top the ITA singles rankings since Kelly Pace in 1995.
2018 in Review: The Longhorns posted a 24-5 overall dual-match record during the 2018 season and advanced to the NCAA Championship Round of 16. UT earned its highest final team ITA ranking (No. 6) since 2005. The Longhorns registered a 9-0 mark in Big 12 Conference play and won their first outright Big 12 regular-season title since 2004 and first Big 12 postseason tournament title since 2013.
What Returns: Texas returns a talented and experienced lineup that includes one senior (Katie Poluta), three juniors (Petra Granic, Anna Turati and Bianca Turati) and two sophomores (Fernanda Labraña and Bojana Markovic) from last year's squad. Sophomore Marta Perez-Mur will redshirt the 2019 season after suffering a right knee injury during fall competition. The Longhorns add freshman Tijana Spasojevic (Belgrade, Serbia), who was ranked as high as No. 836 in the WTA singles rankings. Head coach Howard Joffe is in his fourth season leading the UT program.
Players Mentioned
