The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
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No. 7 Women's Tennis preview: Big 12 Championship
04.17.2019 | Women's Tennis
The Big 12 regular-season champions look to win the Big 12 Tournament title for the 11th time in program history.
2019 Big 12 Women's Tennis Championship Bracket
2019 Texas Spring Dual-Match Statistics
No. 7 Texas (16-3, 9-0 Big 12) at Big 12 Championship
When: Friday-Sunday, April 19-21
Where: Jayhawk Tennis Center (Lawrence, Kansas)
Match Notes
Back-to-Back Outright Big 12 Champs: With Sunday's win at West Virginia, the Longhorns won the Big 12 regular-season title outright with a perfect 9-0 mark. UT, who also went 9-0 in Big 12 play last year, won outright back-to-back Big 12 regular-season championships for the first time since the 1999 and 2000 seasons (shared the title in 2001). Texas has now captured 22 regular-season league titles, including 10 in the Big 12 Conference (1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001-co, 2002, 2004, 2007-co, 2018 and 2019) and 12 in the Southwest Conference (1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988-co, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996).
Looking for Back-to-Back Big 12 Tourney Championships: Texas has captured the Big 12 Tournament title 10 times entering this year's event (1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2012, 2013 and 2018). The Longhorns also claimed nine Southwest Conference tourney titles (1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996).
Baylor Series: The Longhorns hold a 34-18 advantage in the all-time series against Baylor. Texas posted a 7-0 sweep in Waco earlier this season (April 10, 2019).
Iowa State Series: The Longhorns hold a 22-0 advantage in the all-time series against Iowa State. Texas registered a 4-3 victory in Urbandale, Iowa (indoors at the Life Time Fitness facility) just last Friday (April 12, 2019).
Last Time Out: UT recorded a 6-1 win at West Virginia indoors at the Summit Tennis Academy in Morgantown on Sunday, April 14. Texas grabbed an early 1-0 lead by winning the doubles point and used dominant straight-set wins at first singles (Bianca Turati) and second singles (Anna Turati) to build a 3-0 cushion. After a loss at four singles, Petra Granic rallied for a 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory at third singles to clinch the dual-match win.
Team Rankings: Texas is No. 7 in the latest Oracle ITA Collegiate Division I team national rankings (April 16) and No. 7 in the Tennis Channel/USTA College Tennis poll (April 17).
Individual Rankings: Three 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. 37) and junior Petra Granic (No. 53) all appear in the singles rankings. The tandem of Anna Turati and Bianca Turati is No. 59 in doubles.
FORZA Bianca: Junior All-American Bianca Turati holds an 11-6 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 sporting a 15-match win streak in singles play. Thirteen (13) of the 15 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 16-2 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 12-1 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. Ten (10) of her 12 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 12-1 in dual-match singles this spring while seeing action at both the No. 5 (3-0) and No. 6 (9-1) 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 seven-match win streak, with all seven 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 a 12-2 mark at the No. 1 (4-0), 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 eight-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 won six of the nine doubles points in league play in the regular season (dropped the point to No. 16 Kansas, No. 48 TCU and at Iowa State).
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 Reaches 200 Career Win Milestone: Head Coach Howard Joffe is in his fourth season leading the UT program. Joffe has registered a 70-26 (.729) mark in his four years at Texas and a 201-87 (.698) record in 12 seasons as a collegiate head coach. He earned his 200th career collegiate win when UT won 4-3 at Iowa State on April 12. Joffe 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
