The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Northwestern
No. 3 Women's Tennis preview: ITA National Team Indoor Championship
02.03.2021 | Women's Tennis
The Longhorns travel to Stillwater to compete in prestigious eight-team tournament on Feb. 5-7.
No. 3 TEXAS (5-0) vs. No. 13 Northwestern (2-0)
When: Friday, Feb. 5 (approx. 6:30 p.m. CT)
Where: Greenwood Tennis Center (Stillwater, Okla.)
ITA Indoor Nationals: The 34th annual ITA (Intercollegiate Tennis Association) Division I National Women's Team Indoor Championship Presented by Oracle showcases eight of the top women's Division I teams in the three-day tournament to crown an indoor national champion. No. 3 Texas will be joined in the eight-team field by No. 1 North Carolina, No. 2 UCLA, No. 5 Pepperdine, No. 6 Georgia Tech, No. 9 Ohio State, No. 10 Oklahoma State (host) and No. 13 Northwestern.
Schedule of Play: The Longhorns will open play at ITA Indoor Nationals with a quarterfinal-round matchup against No. 13 Northwestern on Friday, Feb. 5 at approximately 6:30 p.m. CT (last match of the day). Should Texas advance to the semifinals, it would face the winner of No. 2 UCLA and No. 10 Oklahoma State on Saturday, Feb. 6 at 6:30 p.m. CT. The championship match is set for 6:30 p.m. CT on Sunday, Feb. 7. All eight teams will play three matches during the weekend.
How They Got Here: Texas earned its spot in the ITA Indoor Nationals by winning a pair of home matches during the ITA Kickoff Weekend. The Longhorns earned 4-0 sweeps against Iowa (Jan. 23) and No. 23 Baylor (Jan. 24).
Team Rankings: Texas is No. 3 in the latest Oracle ITA Collegiate Division I team national rankings (Jan. 27). The Longhorns have finished each of the last three years in the Top 10 of the final Oracle ITA national polls. UT earned a No. 6 final ranking in 2018, a No. 9 ranking in 2019 and a No. 4 ranking in 2020.
Individual Rankings: Four UT players are featured in the preseason Top 125 of the Oracle ITA national singles rankings (Jan. 13): senior Anna Turati (No. 5), freshman Peyton Stearns (No. 66), freshman Lulu Sun (No. 94) and freshman Charlotte Chavatipon (No. 125). The senior duo of Anna Turati and Fernanda Labraña check in at No. 48 in the preseason doubles national rankings. In addition, Texas is the only school to place two student-athletes on the ITA preseason Top 10 Newcomers list. Stearns is the top-ranked newcomer in the nation, while Sun was ranked third.
Last Time Out: Texas earned a hard-fought 4-3 win indoors at Oklahoma last Saturday (Jan. 30). After losing the doubles point for the first time this year, the Longhorns received singles wins from Anna Turati on court 2, Lulu Sun on court 3, and Charlotte Chavatipon on court 4 to even the score at 3-3. In the decisive match on court 1 singles, Peyton Stearns earned a 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-2 win against Oklahoma's Carmen Corley to clinch the victory.
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. Texas was selected as the preseason Big 12 favorite for a third-consecutive year and fourth time in the poll's history. UT earned seven of a possible nine first-place votes and 79 points in polling for the 2021 season. Oklahoma State received two first-place votes and 74 points to place second, while Baylor is tabbed third with the final first-place vote and 66 points. Rounding out the poll in descending order are Texas Tech (49), Kansas (48), Oklahoma (47), Kansas State (31), TCU (24), Iowa State (23) and West Virginia (9).
Turati Returns: With the NCAA granting all spring sports student-athletes an additional year of eligibility due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Anna Turati elected to return for her 'second' senior season in 2021. In her five years with the Longhorns, she has compiled a career overall singles mark of 97-16, including a 61-8 record in dual-match play. Turati also sports a career overall doubles mark of 57-29, including a 48-22 record in dual-match play. She has posted a 3-0 mark this spring in dual-match singles play and a 5-0 mark with Fernanda Labraña in doubles on court 2. Turati is on pace to earn her bachelor's degree in Exercise Science in May 2021.
Looking Back at Turati in 2020: Anna Turati earned her first career ITA singles All-America honor last year and concluded the 2020 season at No. 4 in the final Oracle ITA national singles rankings (March 3). She was named the ITA Texas Regional Most Improved Senior, and she shared the ITA Texas Regional Senior Player of the Year honors with her twin sister, Bianca Turati. Turati registered a 22-4 overall singles mark during the 2019-20 season and earned Big 12 Conference Player of the Week accolades on Jan. 14. She posted an 11-1 mark at the No. 2 singles line for the Longhorns in dual-match play in the spring, including three wins against ranked opponents. In the fall of 2019, Turati registered an 11-3 singles mark against collegiate competition, 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 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).
Turati's Pro Success: Anna Turati has won four International Tennis Federation (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 in the summer of 2019 on clay courts in Tabarka, Tunisia. Turati later won her first 15k singles title on hardcourt at the ITF Norman (Okla.) tourney in October 2019. She also paired with teammate Fernanda Labraña to win the doubles crown in Norman, 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 in October 2019.
The Nation's Top Recruiting Class: UT's freshman class was ranked No. 1 in the nation by TennisRecruiting.net. This marked the first time since TennisRecruiting.net began its recruiting team rankings in 2005 that UT claimed the top-ranked class in the nation. Three of UT's freshmen (Charlotte Chavatipon, Malaika Rapolu and Peyton Stearns) were ranked among the Top 10 in the Class of 2020.
Stearns on a Roll: Peyton Stearns has won seven consecutive singles matches to improve to 7-3 overall this season, including a 3-0 record in dual-match play this spring on court 1. In addition, Stearns claimed a pair of impressive three-set wins at the ITF 80K event in Tyler, Texas (October 2020). She topped WTA No. 210 Chihiro Muramatsu (6-3, 3-6, 1-0 [10-6]) and WTA No. 173 Veronica Cepede Royg (6-4, 2-6, 1-0 [10-4]).
Big 12 Honors for Stearns: Peyton Stearns was named the Big 12 Player of the Week (Feb. 2). She recorded a three-set win (7-6 [7-4], 3-6, 6-2) on court 1 singles against Carmen Corley to provide the clinching point in UT's 4-3 win at Oklahoma on Jan. 30.
This Sun Shines Bright: Freshman Lulu Sun has registered a 5-0 record in dual-match singles action this spring. She has posted a 1-0 mark on court 2 and a 4-0 record on court 3.
Sun's Pro Success: Lulu Sun claimed the singles title at the ITF 15K tournament in Monastir, Tunisia on Dec. 13, 2020. This marked her third career ITF singles crown, as she previously earned 15K championships at Port Pirie, Australia (Feb. 17, 2019) and Perth, Australia (Feb. 24). Sun, who had to advance through two rounds of qualifying before the tourney's 32-player main draw began, won a total of seven matches in an eight-day span (Dec. 6-13) in Monastir. She posted straight-set victories in each of her first six matches prior to her three-set win (6-0, 2-6, 6-2 against WTA No. 433 Carole Monnet) in the final. All five of her main-draw opponents were among the top 851 players in the WTA rankings, including three in the top 500. Sun also advanced to the singles final at the ITF 15K event in Sharm-El Sheikh, Egypt (Nov. 16-22). She paired with partner Valentina Ryser and claimed runner-up finishes in doubles on back-to-back weeks (Nov. 2-8 and Nov. 9-15) at ITF 15K tourneys in Sharm-El Sheikh.
Charlotte's Web: Charlotte Chavatipon has registered a perfect 8-0 mark in singles this season, including a 5-0 record in dual-match play this spring on court 4. She also advanced to the main draw singles semifinals at the UTR 18K tourney in Austin in November.
'Young' Freshmen: Kylie Collins completed her high school degree one semester early and enrolled at UT in January. Collins has tallied a 2-1 mark in dual-match singles play this spring on court 5. Malaika Rapolu finished her high school academic work one year early and reclassified to enroll at UT in August. Rapolu has posted a 9-2 record in singles this year, including a 2-1 mark in dual-match play on court 6.
Fena's World: Senior Fernanda Labraña has registered a 9-1 record in singles this year, including a 2-0 mark in dual-match play on court 6. She also has paired with Anna Turati in doubles this spring and posted a 5-0 mark on court 2.
2020 Year in Review: UT posted an 11-3 record (2-0 Big 12) in the shortened 2020 dual-match season (Covid-19 pandemic) and held the No. 4 spot in the final Oracle ITA national poll on March 10. UT moved to the No. 3 spot in the national rankings on Feb. 18, 2020, marking the highest ITA team ranking for the Longhorns since February 2006 when Texas also ranked third. UT registered victories against five opponents who were among the nation's Top 25 teams in the final ITA rankings: No. 5 Ohio State, No. 7 North Carolina State, No. 9 Georgia Tech, No. 17 Michigan and No. 21 LSU.
Back-to-Back Outright Big 12 Champs (Still): 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 Six: Head Coach Howard Joffe is in his sixth season leading the UT program. Joffe has registered an 89-31 (.742) mark in his six years at Texas and a 220-92 (.705) record in 14 seasons as a collegiate head coach. He has helped a trio of Longhorns earn a total of four ITA All-America honors in singles (Breaunna Addison in 2016, Bianca Turati in 2018, Anna Turati and Bianca Turati in 2020), while seven of his UT players have registered a combined 11 All-Big 12 singles and eight All-Big 12 doubles selections.
Players Mentioned
