The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
2018-19 Women’s Tennis Year-in-Review
06.07.2019 | Women's Tennis
The Longhorns finished the year at No. 9 in the final Oracle/ITA national poll and won their second-straight outright Big 12 Conference regular-season title.
By the Record: Texas completed the 2018-19 season with a 19-5 overall dual-match record (9-0 Big 12 Conference). The Longhorns advanced to the NCAA Tournament Second Round (Round of 32). UT has advanced to at least the NCAA Round of 32 in each of Head Coach Howard Joffe's four seasons in Austin.
Final Team Rankings: Texas finished the 2019 season at No. 9 in the Oracle/ITA Collegiate Division I team national rankings and No. 12 in the Tennis Channel/USTA College Tennis poll. With its No. 6 final ranking in 2018, this marked the first time since the 1998-99 (No. 9) and 1999-2000 (No. 8) seasons that the Longhorns had posted Top 10 ITA final rankings in back-to-back years.
Final Individual Rankings: Three UT singles players and one doubles pair were featured in the final Oracle/ITA national rankings. Junior Anna Turati (No. 31), junior Bianca Turati (No. 34) and junior Petra Granic (No. 59) all appeared in the final singles rankings, while the tandem of Anna Turati and Bianca Turati were tabbed No. 72 in doubles.
Texas in the NCAA Championships: Texas made its 36th NCAA Championship appearance in 2019. The Longhorns have posted a 52-33 all-time record in NCAA Tournament play. UT captured NCAA team titles in 1993 and 1995 and posted NCAA runner-up finishes in 1992 and 2005.
Back-to-Back Outright Big 12 Champs: The Longhorns won the 2019 Big 12 regular-season title outright with a perfect 9-0 mark. UT, who also went 9-0 in Big 12 play in 2018, 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).
Home Success at the TTC: The Longhorns completed their second year at the Texas Tennis Center. UT has registered a 21-2 mark in dual-matches at the TTC, including an 8-0 record in Big 12 regular-season dual-matches. During its inaugural season in 2018, Texas went 13-0 at home (5-0 in Big 12 play). The Longhorns went 8-2 at home in 2019 (3-0 in Big 12 play).
Quartet Earn Big 12 Postseason Awards: The trio of Bianca Turati, Anna Turati and Petra Granic all claimed spots on the All-Big 12 singles first team. UT was the only conference school to have more than one player named to the singles first team. The Turati twins also were one of four tandems selected to the All-Big 12 doubles first team. Anna Turati was tabbed the Big 12 individual champion at No. 2 singles, while Granic earned Big 12 individual champion honors at No. 3 singles. Katie Poluta shared Big 12 individual champion accolades at No. 6 singles with Texas Tech's Lana Rush.
Pair Named to Big 12 All-Tournament Team: Anna Turati and Petra Granic were both named to the Big 12 All-Tournament Team. Honorees were selected by a vote of the league's head coaches, who were not allowed to vote for their own student-athletes. Turati posted a 2-0 mark at No. 2 singles during UT's three matches. Granic registered a perfect 3-0 record at No. 3 singles during the tourney.
Five Honored on Academic All-Big 12 Team: Five Longhorns earned a spot on the 2019 Academic All-Big 12 Women's Tennis Team. Seniors Chelsea Crovetti and Katie Poluta along with juniors Anna Turati and Bianca Turati were named to the First Team, while junior Petra Granic claimed a spot on the Second Team. Poluta, Anna Turati, Bianca Turati and Granic all earned their second career Academic All-Big 12 honors. Crovetti claimed her first career accolade. First-team members consist of those who have maintained a 3.20 or better GPA, while the second-team selections hold a 3.00 to 3.19 GPA.
Team Garners Academic Recognition: The University of Texas Women's Tennis and Men's Tennis teams earned Public Recognition Awards for their latest multi-year NCAA Division I Academic Progress Rate (APR), the NCAA announced May 1. The awards are given each year to teams scoring in the top 10 percent of all squads in their respective sport. The most recent APRs are multi-year rates based on scores from the 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 academic years.
FORZA Bianca: Junior All-American Bianca Turati posted a 12-8 record in singles in 2018-19, including an 11-7 mark at first singles in dual-match action. Six of her 11 dual-match wins came 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.
Anna's Streak: Junior Anna Turati finished the 2019 dual-match season on an 18-match win streak in singles play. Sixteen (16) of the 18 victories during her streak came in straight sets. Included in the win streak were 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, No. 101 Janet Koch of Kansas (6-3, 6-4) on March 24 and again vs. Kansas' No. 104 Koch (6-2, 6-3) on April 21. Turati posted a 26-4 overall record in singles in 2018-19, including a 19-2 mark at second singles in dual-match play.
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 went 16-2 in dual-match singles action in 2019 (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. Thirteen (13) of her 15 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). She posted a 23-6 overall record in singles in 2018-19.
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 went 14-2 in dual-match singles in 2019 while seeing action at both the No. 5 (4-0) and No. 6 (10-2) 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 posted a perfect 6-0 mark in Big 12 play at the sixth singles spot in the spring.
Twin Power in Doubles: Junior twin sisters Anna Turati and Bianca Turati were solid in the spring as a doubles team. The duo posted a 15-3 mark at the No. 1 (7-1), 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.
Trio Advance to NCAA Singles Round of 32: Bianca Turati, Anna Turati and Petra Granic were selected to the 64-player singles draw at the 2019 NCAA Championships. All three players won their NCAA first-round matches before falling in the second round (Round of 32).
Joffe Reaches 200 Career Win Milestone: Head Coach Howard Joffe completed his fourth season leading the UT program. Joffe has registered a 73-28 (.723) mark in his four years at Texas and a 204-89 (.696) record in 12 seasons as a collegiate head coach. He earned his 200th career collegiate victory in UT's 4-3 win at Iowa State on April 12.
