The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
#30 Oklahoma
No. 6 Women's Tennis preview: at No. 30 Oklahoma and No. 9 Oklahoma State
03.27.2019 | Women's Tennis
Junior Anna Turati enters Friday's match in Norman with an 8-match win streak in singles play.
2019 Spring Dual-Match Statistics
No. 6 Texas (9-3, 2-0 Big 12) at No. 30 Oklahoma (13-4, 3-1 Big 12)
When: Friday, March 29 (4 p.m. CT)
Where: Headington Family Tennis Center (Norman, Okla.)
TV: FOX Sports Oklahoma
No. 6 Texas (9-3, 2-0 Big 12) at No. 9 Oklahoma State (13-5, 4-0 Big 12)
When: Sunday, March 31 (1 p.m. CT)
Where: Greenwood Tennis Center (Stillwater, Okla.)
Match Notes
Oklahoma Series: Friday's contest marks the 36th meeting between Texas and Oklahoma. The Longhorns sport a 34-1 record against the Sooners in the all-time series. UT registered a 4-0 sweep in Austin last year (March 23, 2018). OU's lone win in the series came in a 4-3 victory in Austin on March 22, 2003.
Oklahoma State Series: Sunday's contest marks the 40th meeting between Texas and Oklahoma State. The Longhorns hold a 31-8 advantage in the all-time series. UT recorded a 4-0 sweep in Austin last year (March 25, 2018).
Last Time Out: Texas recorded a hard-fought 4-3 victory against No. 16 Kansas on Sunday, March 24 in Austin. KU won the doubles point, but UT responded with three straight-set singles wins from Petra Granic, Katie Poluta and Anna Turati to build a 3-1 lead. The Jayhawks won a pair of three-set matches at fourth and fifth singles to draw even at 3-3. Bianca Turati earned the decisive point with a 6-0, 3-6, 6-1 win at first singles against No. 23 Anastasia Rychagova.
Team Rankings: Texas is No. 6 in the latest Oracle ITA Collegiate Division I team national rankings (March 26) and No. 7 in the Tennis Channel/USTA College Tennis poll (March 27). Oklahoma is No. 30 in the ITA rankings and not ranked in the Tennis Channel/USTA poll. Oklahoma State is No. 9 in the ITA rankings and No. 13 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.
Forza Bianca: Junior All-American Bianca Turati holds a 7-3 mark at first singles in dual-match action this spring. She has recorded 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 of Illinois (6-3, 6-2) on March 19. Turati also earned the decisive point in UT's 4-3 home win against No. 16 Kansas (March 24) with a 6-0, 3-6, 6-1 victory against No. 23 Anastasia Rychagova.
Bianca Claims Big 12 Honor: Bianca Turati claimed Big 12 Conference Women's Tennis Player of the Week honors on March 26. She posted a 3-0 mark at No. 1 singles and a 2-0 record at No. 2 doubles to lead the Longhorns to dual-match wins against No. 34 Illinois, No. 36 K-State and No. 16 Kansas.
Bianca is Back: Bianca Turati claimed the No. 1 spot in the fall preseason ITA national singles rankings (Sept. 11, 2018). 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.
Anna on a Roll: Junior Anna Turati enters Friday's match at Oklahoma with an 8-match win streak in singles play, and six of the eight 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, No. 46 Melissa Lord of Stanford (6-3, 6-3) on Feb. 10 and No. 101 Janet Koch of Kansas (6-3, 6-4) on March 24. Turati is 9-2 at second singles in dual-match play this spring.
Petra Simply Dominant: Junior Petra Granic is a perfect 6-0 in dual-match singles action this spring (all at the No. 3 spot). She registered an impressive 6-3, 6-3 victory against No. 61 Jessica Failla of Pepperdine on March 16. All six of her singles wins in dual-match play have come in straight sets.
Granic Earns Big 12 Honor: 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.
Senior Spark in Singles: Senior Katie Poluta is off to a strong start in singles play this spring. She is 7-1 while seeing action at both the No. 5 (3-0) and No. 6 (4-1) spots in the lineup. Poluta rallied for an impressive 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 win against No. 37 Janice Shin of Stanford at fifth singles on Feb. 10.
Liking Labraña: Sophomore Fernanda Labraña has registered an 8-4 record in singles play this spring. She is 3-2 at the No. 4 line and 5-2 at the No. 5 spot. Her eight dual-match singles victories rank second on the team behind Anna Turati (9-2).
Twin Power in Doubles: Junior twin sisters Anna Turati and Bianca Turati have been solid this spring as a doubles team. The duo has posted a 6-2 mark at the No. 2 (4-1) 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 63-26 (.708) mark in his four years at Texas and a 194-87 (.690) 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
