The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Florida State
No. 2 Women’s Tennis advances to NCAA semifinals
05.19.2021 | Women's Tennis
The Longhorns post a 4-0 sweep on Wednesday against No. 7 Florida State in the NCAA quarterfinals.
ORLANDO, Fla. — The No. 2 University of Texas women's tennis team earned a 4-0 win against No. 7 Florida State (19-6) in a NCAA quarterfinals match on Wednesday afternoon at the USTA National Campus. With the victory, the Longhorns (29-1) advance to the NCAA semifinals against No. 6 North Carolina State (20-5) on Friday, May 21 at a time to be announced.
Texas, which won its 22nd consecutive dual match, reached the NCAA semifinals for the eighth time in program history and first since the 2005 season. UT's 29 dual-match wins tied the school single-season record, equaling the 29 set by the 1983-84 team (29-7 record).
UT gained a 1-0 lead after winning the doubles point for the 27th time in its first 30 matches. The No. 47-ranked pair of freshmen Peyton Stearns and Charlotte Chavatipon had their 13-match win streak snapped with a 6-3 loss on court 3 to No. 89 Giulia Pairone and Petra Hule. Tied at 3-3, the Seminoles' duo won three straight games to close out the victory.
The senior tandem of Anna Turati and Fernanda Labraña evened the count in doubles with an impressive 6-1 victory on court 2 over the No. 8-ranked duo of Nandini Das and Andrea Garcia. After splitting the first two games, Turati and Labraña held serve on a deuce point and broke Das and Garcia to gain control of the match. Leading 4-1, Turati and Labraña broke the Seminoles again and then held serve on a deuce point to close out the win and improve to 15-2 in dual-match doubles play this year.
The No. 19-ranked duo of freshmen Kylie Collins and Lulu Sun clinched the doubles point with a 6-3 win on court 1 against the No. 30-ranked tandem of Emmanuelle Salas and Victoria Allen. Leading 3-2 on serve, Collins and Sun broke Salas and Allen on a deuce point and held serve to gain a 5-2 advantage. After Salas and Allen won the following game, Collins and Sun held serve at love to finish the match and move to 20-4 in dual-match doubles play, including an 8-3 mark against nationally-ranked opponents.
No. 37 Stearns opened singles action with a dominant 6-0, 6-1 victory on court 1 over No. 12 Pairone. After Stearns won the first eight games of the match, Pairone held serve on a deuce point to close to within 2-1 in the second set. Stearns held serve in the following game and broke Pairone on a deuce point to go up 4-1, then won back-to-back games to close out the win and improve to 15-7 overall in singles this year, including an 11-4 mark in dual-match action.
No. 35 Turati added a 6-1, 6-4 victory on court 2 against No. 44 Salas. Tied at 1-1 in the opening set, Turati won five-straight games to close out her first-set win. Tied at 4-4 in the second set, Turati broke Salas and then held serve to finish out the victory and move to 19-3 in dual-match singles play this season.
Labraña clinched the overall dual-match victory for the Longhorns with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 win on court 6 against Garcia. After dropping the opening game of the first set, Labraña won four consecutive games to build a 4-1 cushion. Garcia captured the following game, but Labraña responded by winning the next two games to earn a 6-2 first-set victory. Garcia evened the match with a 6-2 second-set win.
Tied at 1-1 in the decisive third set, Labraña broke Garcia, held serve and then broke her again to grab a 4-1 advantage. Garcia answered by winning back-to-back games to narrow the gap to 4-3, but Labraña held serve and broke Garcia to close out the match and improve to 23-2 overall in singles this year, including a 16-1 mark in dual-match action.
The remaining singles matches featuring No. 62 Sun (court 3), No. 76 Chavatipon (court 4) and No. 72 Collins (court 5) were stopped once Labraña clinched her win. North Carolina State earned its spot in the NCAA semifinals with a 4-2 victory on Wednesday against No. 3 Georgia.
On Wednesday afternoon, the NCAA updated their policies regarding the capacity of its championship events. As a result, capacity for the ongoing Division I Tennis Championships will increase to 100-percent for all remaining sessions. Additional tickets will go on sale for remaining sessions of the team event, which concludes on May 22, as well as for the individual event which begins on May 23 and runs through May 28. Tickets can be purchased HERE.
#2 Texas 4, #7 Florida State 0
Singles – Order of finish (1, 2, 6)
- #37 Peyton Stearns (UT) def. #12 Giulia Pairone (FSU), 6-0, 6-1
- #35 Anna Turati (UT) def. #44 Emmanuelle Salas (FSU), 6-1, 6-4
- #62 Lulu Sun (UT) vs. Nandini Das (FSU), 6-3, 6-6 (7-8), unfinished
- #76 Charlotte Chavatipon (UT) vs. Petra Hule (FSU), 6-3, 3-6, 5-2, unfinished
- #72 Kylie Collins (UT) vs. Victoria Allen (FSU), 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 1-1, unfinished
- Fernanda Labraña (UT) def. Andrea Garcia (FSU), 6-2, 2-6, 6-3
Doubles – Order of finish (3, 2, 1)
- #19 Kylie Collins/Lulu Sun (UT) def. #30 Emmanuelle Salas/Victoria Allen (FSU), 6-3
- Fernanda Labraña/Anna Turati (UT) def. #8 Nandini Das/Andrea Garcia (FSU), 6-1
- #89 Giulia Pairone/Petra Hule (FSU) def. #47 Peyton Stearns/Charlotte Chavatipon (UT), 6-3
Players Mentioned
