The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
#16 Ohio State
No. 6 Women's Tennis preview: at No. 16 Ohio State, at No. 13 Michigan
01.31.2019 | Women's Tennis
Longhorns hit the road for a pair of indoor dual matches against Top 20 opponents.
No. 6 Texas (2-0) at No. 16 Ohio State (2-0)
When: Friday, Feb. 1 (5 p.m. CT)
Where: Varsity Tennis Center (Columbus, Ohio)
No. 6 Texas (2-0) at No. 13 Michigan (1-1)
When: Sunday, Feb. 3 (11 a.m. CT)
Where: Varsity Tennis Center (Ann Arbor, Mich.)
Match Notes
Ohio State Series: This marks the third all-time meeting between the Longhorns and Buckeyes. The series is tied at 1-1 entering Friday's contest. In the first matchup, Ohio State posted a 4-1 win in Austin on April 4, 2015. Last year (March 4, 2018), the Longhorns registered a 4-0 sweep in a match played indoors at the Weller Tennis Center in Austin. This marks the first time UT has faced Ohio State in Columbus.
Michigan Series: Texas and Michigan will meet for the seventh consecutive season on Sunday. Michigan holds a 4-2 lead in the all-time series entering Sunday's contest. Last year (March 11, 2018), the Longhorns posted a 4-0 victory in a match played outdoors at the Texas Tennis Center. UT will be looking for its first victory at the Varsity Tennis Center in program history (0-3 mark entering Sunday).
Indoor Prep for Seattle: The Longhorns travel to Big Ten Conference territory to face a pair of Top 20 opponents indoors this weekend. Texas will use these two indoor dual matches to prepare for the ITA National Team Indoor Championships, set for Feb. 8-11 in Seattle. UT qualified for the Indoor Nationals by virtue of its two home wins during the ITA Kick-Off Weekend.
ITA Kick-Off Weekend Sweeps: Texas opened its 2019 dual-match schedule with a pair of 4-0 sweeps at the Texas Tennis Center last weekend. The Longhorns topped Middle Tennessee State 4-0 on Saturday, Jan. 26 and returned to post a 4-0 victory against Baylor on Sunday, Jan. 27.
Team Rankings: Texas is No. 6 in the latest Oracle ITA Collegiate Division I team national rankings (Jan. 30). UT is the highest-rated Big 12 Conference in the poll. Ohio State is No. 16, while Michigan is No. 13.
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).
Fast Starts in Singles: Petra Granic and Fernanda Labraña both recorded a pair of dominant straight-set victories to highlight UT's singles play during its opening weekend. Playing at No. 3 singles, Granic registered a 6-1, 6-1 win against Lidia Burrows (Middle Tennessee State) on Saturday and followed with a 6-4, 6-3 victory against Kris Sorokolet (Baylor) on Sunday. Labraña, playing at No. 5 singles, cruised to a 6-0, 6-2 win against Lee Barnard (Middle Tennessee State) on Saturday and posted a 6-1, 6-2 victory against Paula Baranano (Baylor) on Sunday.
Twin Power in Doubles: Twin sisters Anna Turati and Bianca Turati were dominant together at the No. 3 doubles position during the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. The duo cruised to a 6-1 win against Middle Tennessee State's Lee Barnard and Marta Peris Herrero last Saturday. The Turati twins then registered a 6-4 win against Baylor's Angie Shakhraichuk and Paula Baranano on Sunday.
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
