The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
#12 Northwestern
No. 6 Women's Tennis preview: ITA National Team Indoor Championships
02.07.2019 | Women's Tennis
Texas opens play at the 16-team event on Friday (4 p.m. Central) against No. 12 Northwestern.
No. 6 Texas (3-1) at ITA National Team Indoor Championships
When: Friday, Feb. 8 – Monday, Feb. 11
Where: Nordstrom Tennis Center and Seattle Tennis Club (Seattle, Wash.)
Opening-Round Matchup
No. 6 Texas (3-1) vs. No. 12 Northwestern (3-2)
When: Friday, Feb. 8 (4 p.m. Central) ** updated time **
Where: Seattle Tennis Club (Seattle, Wash.)
Match Notes
Texas at the ITA National Team Indoors: Texas makes its second straight trip to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships, a 16-team event that guarantees at least three matches for all participating teams. Last year, the Longhorns went 0-3 at Indoor Nationals, dropping 4-2 decisions to Georgia, South Carolina and Ole Miss. Prior to last season, UT had not qualified for the prestigious tournament since 2014.
Northwestern Series: This marks the 19th all-time meeting between the Longhorns and Wildcats. Northwestern holds a slim 10-8 lead in the series entering Friday's match. The Longhorns registered a 4-2 win at Northwestern last season (Feb. 4, 2018).
ITA Kick-Off Weekend Sweeps: Texas opened its 2019 dual-match schedule as part of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend with a pair of 4-0 sweeps at the Texas Tennis Center. The Longhorns topped Middle Tennessee State 4-0 (Jan. 26) and returned to post a 4-0 victory against Baylor (Jan. 27). By virtue of its two wins during the ITA Kick-Off Weekend, Texas earned an automatic bid into the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.
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.
Individual Rankings: Four UT players are featured in the latest Oracle/ITA national singles rankings (Feb. 6): junior Petra Granic (No. 29), junior Anna Turati (No. 54), sophomore Bojana Markovic (No. 101) and freshman Tijana Spasojevic (No. 107). Texas also features one doubles tandem in the latest national rankings: Anna Turati and senior Katie Poluta (No. 38).
Singles Success: Petra Granic, senior Katie Poluta and sophomore Fernanda Labraña are all off to strong starts in singles play this spring. Granic is 2-0 at the No. 3 spot, while Poluta is 2-0 while seeing action at both No. 5 and No. 6. Labraña is 3-1 in singles play, recording a 1-1 mark at No. 4 and 2-0 record at No. 5 entering the weekend.
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
