The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
#45 Rice
No. 9 Women's Tennis preview: at No. 45 Rice
02.22.2019 | Women's Tennis
The Longhorns resume dual-match play in Houston on Sunday (11 a.m. CT).
No. 9 Texas (4-2) at No. 45 Rice (5-3)
When: Sunday, Feb. 24 (11 a.m. CT)
Where: George R. Brown Tennis Center (Houston, Texas)
Match Notes
Rice Series: This marks the 29th all-time meeting between the Longhorns and Owls. UT holds a 26-2 lead in the series entering Sunday's match. In the most recent meeting, Texas registered a 4-3 win in Austin on March 13, 2017.
ITA National Indoors Recap: Texas advanced to the quarterfinals at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships (Feb. 8-11) in Seattle. This marked the first time the Longhorns had advanced to the quarterfinals at the prestigious tourney since 2006. The Longhorns posted a 4-0 sweep against No. 12 Northwestern in the Round of 16 (Feb. 8). After inclement weather and poor road conditions in the Seattle area delayed the quarterfinal round for a full day, Texas dropped a hard-fought 4-3 decision to then-No. 1 Stanford (Feb. 10).
Team Rankings: Texas is No. 9 in the latest Oracle ITA Collegiate Division I team national rankings (Feb. 20). Rice is No. 45 in the Feb. 20 poll.
Individual Rankings: Six UT singles players and two doubles pairs are featured in the latest Oracle/ITA national rankings (Feb. 20). Junior Anna Turati (No. 41), junior Petra Granic (No. 56), freshman Tijana Spasojevic (No. 92), senior Katie Poluta (No. 94), sophomore Bojana Markovic (No. 100) and junior All-American Bianca Turati (No. 113) all appear in the singles rankings. The tandem of Anna Turati and Katie Poluta is No. 41 in doubles, while the duo of Poluta and sophomore Fernanda Labraña is No. 58.
Senior Spark in Singles: Senior Katie Poluta is off to a strong start in singles play this spring. Poluta is 3-0 while seeing action at both the No. 5 (2-0) and No. 6 (1-0) spots in the lineup. In her most recent outing, Poluta rallied for an impressive 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 win against No. 37 Janice Shin of Stanford at No. 5 singles (Feb. 10).
Twin Power in Doubles: Twin sisters Anna Turati and Bianca Turati have been dominant this spring as a doubles team. The duo has posted a 4-0 mark at the No. 2 (2-0) and No. 3 (2-0) spots.
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, 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
