The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Iowa
No. 7 Women's Tennis preview: ITA Kickoff Weekend
01.22.2020 | Women's Tennis
The Longhorns open the 2020 dual-match season against Iowa on Friday (11 a.m. CT).
No. 7 Texas in the ITA KickOff Weekend
When: Friday, Jan. 24 and Saturday, Jan. 25
Where: Texas Tennis Center (Austin, Texas)
Live Video: https://hookem.at/Watch-Tennis
Live Stats: https://hookem.at/TTCSouthStats (South Courts);
https://hookem.at/TTCNorthStats (North Courts)
Match Schedule
Friday, Jan. 24
11 am CT – Texas vs. Iowa (South Courts)
2 pm CT – LSU vs. Texas Tech (South Courts)
Saturday, Jan. 25
2 pm CT – Championship Match (South Courts)
2 pm CT – Consolation Match (North Courts)
Series Records
Iowa: First meeting
LSU: Texas leads, 5-1. Last meeting: UT 6-0 (March 7, 1992; Austin)
Texas Tech: Texas leads, 50-5. Last meeting: UT 4-0 (April 20, 2019; Lawrence)
Match Notes
Host Site: Texas is one of 15 programs to serve as host sites for the 2020 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) KickOff Weekend. The annual ITA KickOff Weekend features 15 "regionals" played on both the men's and women's side, with four teams competing in each regional. The winners of the single-elimination event advance to the ITA Division I National Team Indoor Championships on Feb. 7-10 in Chicago. Illinois, who serves as the women's host school for the National Team Indoors, receives an automatic invitation to the event and is exempt from competing in the 2020 ITA KickOff Weekend.
Team Rankings: Texas is No. 7 in the latest Oracle/ITA Collegiate Division I team national rankings (Jan. 22). UT is the highest-rated Big 12 Conference team in the poll, which also featured Oklahoma State (10) and Kansas (19).
Individual Rankings: Three UT players are featured in the Top 100 of the latest Oracle/ITA national singles rankings (Nov. 13): senior Anna Turati (tie No. 4), freshman Lexi Ryngler (No. 43) and junior Fernanda Labraña (No. 98).
Home Success at the TTC: The Longhorns enter their third 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).
Big 12 Preseason Favorite: Texas is picked to win the Big 12 Conference title in a preseason vote of the league coaches. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own teams. UT claimed the top spot in the poll, earning six of a possible nine first-place votes and 78 points in polling for the 2020 season. Oklahoma State received three first-place votes and 75 points to place second, while Baylor was tabbed third with the final first-place vote and 56 points. Rounding out the poll in descending order are: Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas Tech, TCU, Kansas State, Iowa State and West Virginia.
Last Time Out: The Longhorns earned a total of 16 wins over a three-day span (Jan. 10-12) at the Pink Flamingo Invitational at Baha Mar Resort (Nassau, Bahamas). The inaugural event featured singles and doubles competition in a round-robin format between the Longhorns, No. 4 UCLA, No. 21 Florida and No. 23 Miami (Fla.).
Sensational Fall: Senior Anna Turati registered an 11-3 singles mark against collegiate competition during the fall, advancing to the quarterfinals at the Oracle ITA Masters, the semifinals at the ITA All-American Championships and the championship match at the ITA National Fall Championships. Nine of her 11 wins in the fall came against ITA nationally-ranked opponents, including three Top-10 wins against No. 2 Estela Perez-Somarribba (Miami, Fla.), No. 5 Kelly Chen (Duke) and No. 7 Sara Daavettila (North Carolina).
Pro Success: Anna Turati has won four ITF 15k pro circuit singles titles and three doubles titles since the start of summer 2019. She captured three 15k singles championships and one doubles title this summer on clay courts in Tabarka, Tunisia. Turati later won her first 15k singles title on hardcourt at the ITF Norman (Okla.) tourney (Oct. 6). She also paired with teammate Fernanda Labraña to win the doubles crown in Norman (Oct. 5), and she teamed with twin sister Bianca Turati to capture the doubles championship at the ITF 15k tourney in Austin – the H-E-B Women's Pro Tennis Open (Oct. 26).
Anna Turati named Big 12 Player of the Week: Anna Turati earned Big 12 Conference Player of the Week honors on Jan. 14. This marked her second career weekly conference honor, as she previously claimed Co-Player of the Week accolades on April 9, 2019. She posted a 3-0 mark in singles and a 2-1 record in doubles at the Pink Flamingo Invitational. Turati tallied an impressive 6-2, 7-5 win against No. 14 Elysia Bolton of UCLA at No. 1 singles (Jan. 11) and also topped No. 96 Victoria Emma of Florida at No. 2 singles by a 6-1 decision (Jan. 12). Playing alongside her twin sister Bianca Turati in doubles on court one, the twins only setback came in a hard-fought 6-4 loss to UCLA's No. 2-ranked tandem of Elysia Bolton and Jada Hart (Jan. 12).
Bianca Back for One More: Senior All-American Bianca Turati competed solely in professional tournaments during the recent summer and fall schedule. She won a pair of ITF 25k singles titles, earning her first championship in Tarvisio, Italy in the summer on clay courts. Turati concluded her fall season with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win against WTA No. 438 Katie Volynets (USA) to win the 25k pro event on hard courts in Malibu, Calif. She also won the 15k singles title at the H-E-B Women's Pro Tennis Open (Oct. 27) with a three-set victory against twin sister Anna Turati in the final, and she paired with Anna to claim the doubles title at the same event.
Impressive Freshman: Freshman Lexi Ryngler registered an 11-3 singles record during the fall season, advancing to the championship match at the ITA Texas Regionals and the Round of 16 at the ITA National Fall Championships. Four of her victories came against ITA nationally-ranked opponents, including an impressive three-set win over No. 18 Meible Chi (Duke) in the ITA National Fall Championships.
Labraña Provides Spark: Junior Fernanda Labraña posted an 8-3 mark in singles against collegiate competition during the fall. She advanced to the quarterfinals at the ITA Texas Regionals and won the singles title at the Texas Invitational. Her fall was highlighted by a three-set victory against No. 80 Daevenia Achong (Miami, Fla.) in the championship match at the Texas Invitational. Labraña also paired with Anna Turati to win the doubles title at the ITF 15k tourney in Norman, Okla. (Oct. 5).
2019 in Review: 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.
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, has 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 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).
Joffe in Year Five: Head Coach Howard Joffe is in his fifth season leading the UT program. Joffe has registered a 73-28 (.723) mark in his previous four years at Texas and a 204-89 (.696) record in 12 previous 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, 2019.
