The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Iowa State
No. 6 Women’s Tennis defeats Iowa State, 4-3
04.12.2019 | Women's Tennis
The Longhorns clinch a share of the Big 12 regular-season title; Joffe records his 200th career win.
URBANDALE, Iowa — The No. 6 University of Texas women's tennis team recorded a 4-3 win at Iowa State (5-11, 1-7 Big 12) on Friday afternoon indoors at the Life Time Fitness facility. With the victory, the Longhorns clinched at least a share of the Big 12 Conference regular-season crown and head coach Howard Joffe recorded his 200th career coaching victory. Joffe has posted a 200-87 (.697) mark in 12 seasons as a collegiate head coach.
Texas (15-3, 8-0 Big 12), who posted a perfect 9-0 in league play to win the Big 12 crown outright last year, earned back-to-back regular-season Big 12 titles for the first time since the 2001 and 2002 seasons. UT previously won six-straight Big 12 regular-season titles from 1997 through 2002.
Iowa State grabbed an early 1-0 lead by claiming the doubles point. The Cyclones' duo of Maty Cancini and Annabella Bonadonna registered a 6-2 win against junior Petra Granic and freshman Tijana Spasojevic at second doubles. ISU's tandem of Ekaterina Repina and Margarita Timakova clinched the doubles point with a 6-4 win against UT's sophomore duo of Fernanda Labraña and Bojana Markovic at third doubles. The No. 55-ranked pair of junior twin sisters Anna and Bianca Turati held a 4-3 advantage against Ekaterina Grib and Regina Espindola at first doubles when the point was clinched.
The Longhorns answered with a pair of straight-set wins to open singles play and take a 2-1 lead. No. 41 Anna Turati recorded a dominant 6-0, 6-1 win against Espindola at second singles. Turati claimed her 14th-consecutive singles victory and improved to 15-2 in dual-match singles action this spring, including an 8-0 mark in Big 12 play.
No. 55 Granic quickly followed with a 6-3, 6-1 victory against Grib at third singles. Granic improved to 11-1 in dual-match singles play this spring, including a 7-1 record in Big 12 play.
The Cyclones evened the match score at 2-2 when Repina recorded a 6-4, 0-6, 6-0 win against No. 123 Markovic at fourth singles. Labraña responded by rallying for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 victory against Bonadonna at fifth singles to give the Longhorns a 3-2 lead.
Spasojevic, in the singles lineup for the first time since March 22 against Kansas State, came through to clinch the match and the league title with a three-set thriller at sixth singles against Timakova. After dropping the first set 6-4, Spasojevic rallied for a convincing 6-2 win in the second set. Trailing 5-4 in the deciding third set, Spasojevic broke Timakova and then held her own serve to take a 6-5 lead. Spasojevic then broke Timakova again to close out the victory.
With the dual match decided, Cancini registered a 3-6, 7-5, 1-0 (10-6) win against No. 29 Bianca Turati at first singles. The two players split the first two sets, and with the dual-match decided, the third set was played with a 10-point tie-break format. Tied at 6-6 in the breaker, Cancini won the final four points to close out the victory.
Texas concludes the regular season when it travels to Morgantown, W. Va. to face West Virginia on Sunday, April 14. First serve for the Texas-WVU match is set for 10 a.m. Central at the Summit Tennis Academy. A Texas victory on Sunday would allow the Longhorns to win the Big 12 regular-season title outright.
#6 Texas 4, Iowa State 3
Singles – Order of finish (2-3-4-5-6-1)
- Maty Cancini (ISU) def. #29 Bianca Turati (UT), 3-6, 7-5, 1-0 (10-6)
- #41 Anna Turati (UT) def. Regina Espindola (ISU), 6-0, 6-1
- #55 Petra Granic (UT) def. Ekaterina Grib (ISU), 6-3, 6-1
- Ekaterina Repina (ISU) def. #123 Bojana Markovic (UT), 6-4, 0-6, 6-0
- Fernanda Labraña (UT) def. Annabella Bonadonna (ISU), 4-6, 6-3, 6-0
- Tijana Spasojevic (UT) def. Margarita Timakova (ISU), 4-6, 6-2, 7-5
Doubles – Order of finish (2-3)
- #55 Anna Turati/Bianca Turati (UT) vs. Ekaterina Grib/Regina Espindola (ISU), 4-3 (unfinished)
- Maty Cancini/Annabella Bonadonna (ISU) def. Petra Granic/Tijana Spasojevic (UT), 6-2
- Ekaterina Repina/Margarita Timakova (ISU) def. Fernanda Labraña/Bojana Markovic (UT), 6-4
Players Mentioned
