The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
#36 Kansas State
No. 18 Women's Tennis preview: No. 36 K-State and No. 16 Kansas
03.20.2019 | Women's Tennis
The Longhorns open Big 12 Conference play against the Wildcats (Friday at 3 p.m. CT) and Jayhawks (Sunday at 11 a.m. CT).
2019 Texas Dual-Match Statistics
No. 18 Texas (7-3, 0-0 Big 12) vs. No. 36 Kansas State (10-5, 0-2 Big 12)
When: Friday, March 22 (3 p.m. CT)
Where: Texas Tennis Center (Austin, Texas)
No. 18 Texas (7-3, 0-0 Big 12) vs. No. 16 Kansas (10-3, 1-1 Big 12)
When: Sunday, March 24 (11 a.m. CT)
Where: Texas Tennis Center (Austin, Texas)
Match Notes
Success in Big 12 Openers: Texas holds an impressive 19-3 mark in Big 12 Conference openers entering Friday's home match against K-State.
K-State Series: Friday's contest marks the 28th meeting between Texas and Kansas State. The Longhorns sport a perfect 27-0 record in the all-time series. Last year (March 18, 2018), UT registered a 4-0 sweep in Manhattan.
Kansas Series: Sunday's contest marks the 31st meeting between Texas and Kansas. The Longhorns hold a 29-1 mark in the all-time series. The lone KU win in the series came during a 4-3 victory in Lawrence on March 18, 2016. Last season (March 16, 2018), UT recorded a 4-2 win in Lawrence.
Last Time Out: Texas defeated No.34 Illinois, 6-1, on Tuesday, March 19 at the Texas Tennis Center. After dropping the doubles point, the Longhorns rallied to win all six singles matches in their final non-conference dual-match of the season.
Team Rankings: Texas is No. 18 in the latest Oracle ITA Collegiate Division I team national rankings (March 19) and No. 8 in the Tennis Channel/USTA College Tennis poll (March 20). K-State is No. 36 in the ITA rankings and not ranked in the Tennis Channel/USTA poll. Kansas is No. 16 in the ITA rankings and No. 18 in the Tennis Channel/USTA poll.
Individual Rankings: Four UT singles players and one doubles pairs are featured in the latest Oracle/ITA national rankings (March 19). Junior Anna Turati (No. 42), junior Petra Granic (No. 52), junior All-American Bianca Turati (No. 75) and sophomore Bojana Markovic (No. 105) all appear in the singles rankings. The tandem of Anna Turati and senior Katie Poluta is No. 54 in doubles.
Home Success at the TTC: The Longhorns are in their second year at the Texas Tennis Center. The Longhorns have registered a 17-1 mark in dual-matches at the TTC. During its inaugural season in 2018, Texas went 13-0 at home. The Longhorns are 4-1 at home this season. The lone defeat at the TTC came in a 5-2 loss to No. 20 Pepperdine on March 16.
Anna on a Roll: Junior Anna Turati enters Friday's match vs. K-State with a 6-match win streak in singles play, and five of the six victories have come in straight sets. Included in the win streak are straight-set victories against No. 72 Julie Byrne of Northwestern (6-3, 7-5) on Feb. 8 and No. 46 Melissa Lord of Stanford (6-3, 6-3) on Feb. 10. Turati is 7-2 at the No. 2 line in singles dual-match play this spring.
Bianca Back for More: 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. Turati holds a 5-3 mark at the No. 1 line in singles dual-match action this spring, including straight-set victories against No. 59 Clarissa Hand of Northwestern (6-1, 6-4) on Feb. 8, No. 66 Michaela Haet of Rice (6-0, 6-3) on Feb. 24 and No. 54 Asuka Kawai (6-3, 6-2) on March 19.
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. Granic is a perfect 4-0 in dual-match singles action this spring (all at the No. 3 spot), including an impressive 6-3, 6-3 victory against No. 61 Jessica Failla of Pepperdine on March 16.
Senior Spark in Singles: Senior Katie Poluta is off to a strong start in singles play this spring. She is 6-1 while seeing action at both the No. 5 (3-0) and No. 6 (3-1) spots in the lineup. Poluta rallied for an impressive 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 win against No. 37 Janice Shin of Stanford at the No. 5 line (Feb. 10).
Liking Labraña: Sophomore Fernanda Labraña has registered an impressive 7-3 record in singles play this spring. She is 3-2 at the No. 4 line and 4-1 at the No. 5 spot. Her seven dual-match singles victories are tied for the team lead with Anna Turati (7-2).
Twin Power in Doubles: Twin sisters Anna Turati and Bianca Turati have been solid this spring as a doubles team. The duo has posted a 5-2 mark at the No. 2 (3-1) and No. 3 (2-1) 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.
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.
Joffe in Year Four: Head Coach Howard Joffe is in his fourth season leading the UT program. Joffe has registered a 61-26 (.701) mark in his four years at Texas and a 192-87 (.688) record in 12 seasons as a collegiate head coach. He earned 2018 Big 12 Conference and ITA Texas Region Coach of the Year honors, leading the Longhorns to the program's first outright Big 12 regular-season title since 2004 and first Big 12 tourney title since 2013.
Players Mentioned
