The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Iowa State
No. 6 Women's Tennis preview: at Iowa State and at West Virginia
04.11.2019 | Women's Tennis
The Longhorns look to clinch at least a share of the Big 12 regular-season title with a win at Iowa State on Friday (11 a.m. CT).
2019 Spring Dual-Match Statistics
No. 6 Texas (14-3, 7-0 Big 12) at Iowa State (5-10, 1-6 Big 12)
When: Friday, April 12 (11 a.m. CT)
Where: Life Time Fitness (Urbandale, Iowa)
Live Video: none
No. 6 Texas (14-3, 7-0 Big 12) at West Virginia (10-9, 0-7 Big 12)
When: Sunday, April 14 (10 a.m. CT)
Where: Summit Tennis Academy (Morgantown, W. Va.)
Live Video: none
Match Notes
Looking for back-to-back Big 12 regular-season titles: With a win at Iowa State on Friday, the Longhorns would clinch at least a share of the Big 12 Conference regular-season crown. Texas is attempting to win back-to-back regular-season titles for the first time since the 2001 and 2002 seasons (UT won six straight Big 12 regular-season titles from 1997-2002). With a pair of wins this weekend, the Longhorns would win the Big 12 regular-season title outright. UT, which went 9-0 in Big 12 play last year, has not won outright back-to-back Big 12 regular-season championships since the 1999 and 2000 seasons (shared the title in 2001).
Iowa State Series: Friday's contest marks the 22nd meeting between Texas and Iowa State. The Longhorns hold a 21-0 advantage in the all-time series. Last year, UT registered a 4-0 sweep against the Cyclones in Austin (April 13, 2018).
West Virginia Series: Sunday's contest marks the sixth meeting between Texas and West Virginia. The Longhorns hold a 5-0 advantage in the all-time series. Last year, UT recorded a 4-0 sweep against the Mountaineers in Austin (April 15, 2018).
Last Time Out: No. 6 Texas posted a 7-0 sweep at Baylor on Wednesday (April 10) at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco. The Longhorns claimed the doubles point and won all five contested singles matches in straight sets. Katie Poluta earned a victory at sixth singles by virtue of a walkover.
Team Rankings: Texas is No. 6 in the latest Oracle ITA Collegiate Division I team national rankings (April 9) and No. 7 in the Tennis Channel/USTA College Tennis poll (April 10). Iowa State is not ranked in either major poll. West Virginia is not ranked in either poll.
Individual Rankings: Four UT singles players and one doubles pair are featured in the latest Oracle/ITA national rankings (April 9). Junior All-American Bianca Turati (No. 29), junior Anna Turati (No. 41), junior Petra Granic (No. 55) and sophomore Bojana Markovic (No. 123) all appear in the singles rankings. The tandem of Anna Turati and Bianca Turati is No. 55 in doubles.
FORZA Bianca: Junior All-American Bianca Turati holds a 10-5 mark at first singles in dual-match action this spring, with six of the wins coming against nationally-ranked opponents. She 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 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. She also registered a 6-1, 6-3 win against No. 19 Oleksandra Korashvil (Oklahoma) on March 29 and a 6-4, 6-2 victory against No. 27 Katarina Stresnakova (Oklahoma State) on March 31.
Bianca Claims Back-to-Back Big 12 Honors: Bianca Turati claimed Big 12 Conference Women's Tennis Player of the Week honors on March 26 and April 2. She earned the March 26 accolade after posting 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. Turati returned to claim the April 2 honor after registering a 2-0 mark at No. 1 singles and a 2-0 mark at No. 2 doubles to lead the Longhorns to dual-match road wins against No. 30 Oklahoma and No. 9 Oklahoma State. All four of her wins against OU and OSU came against nationally-ranked opponents.
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 Iowa State sporting a 13-match win streak in singles play. Eleven of the 13 victories during her streak 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 14-2 at second singles in dual-match play this spring.
Anna Grabs Big 12 Honor: Anna Turati earned Big 12 Conference Women's Tennis Co-Player of the Week honors on April 9. She posted a 2-0 mark at No. 2 singles and a 2-0 record at No. 1 doubles to lead the Longhorns to dual-match home wins against No. 48 TCU and No. 29 Texas Tech. Turati dropped a total of only five games in her two singles wins.
Steady Petra: Junior Petra Granic is 10-1 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. Nine of her 10 singles wins in dual-match play have come in straight sets. Granic claimed the clinching point during UT's 5-2 win at No. 9 Oklahoma State (March 31), recording a dramatic 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7-2) victory against No. 117 Bunyawi Thamchaiwat at third singles (after trailing 5-4 in the third set).
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 11-1 in dual-match singles this spring while seeing action at both the No. 5 (3-0) and No. 6 (8-1) 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. She enters Friday's contest sporting a six-match win streak, with all six victories coming in straight sets.
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 an 11-2 mark at the No. 1 (3-0), No. 2 (6-1) and No. 3 (2-1) spots. The Turati twins recorded a 6-2 win against No. 78 Martina Capurro and Camila Romero of Oklahoma (March 29) and followed with a 7-6 (8-6) victory against Oklahoma State's No. 68 tandem of Marina Guinart and Katarina Stresnakova (March 31). The twins played at the top doubles line for the first time in their collegiate career on April 5 against TCU's No. 42-ranked team of Ellie Douglas and Aleksa Cbeticanin and registered an impressive 6-2 win. Anna and Bianca have won seven-straight doubles matches entering Friday's contest.
Doubles Point Improvement: After dropping six consecutive doubles points from Feb. 3 (at No. 13 Michigan) through March 19 (vs. No. 34 Illinois), the Longhorns have shown dramatic improvement in their doubles results in Big 12 play. Texas has won five of the seven doubles points in league play entering Friday's match (dropping the point to No. 16 Kansas and No. 48 TCU).
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 Goes for Career Win No. 200: Head Coach Howard Joffe is in his fourth season leading the UT program. Joffe has registered a 68-26 (.723) mark in his four years at Texas and a 199-87 (.696) 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
