The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
USC
No. 1 Women’s Tennis defeats No. 10 USC, 4-1
02.11.2022 | Women's Tennis
Stearns earns dominant win over nation’s top-ranked singles player as Longhorns advance to Saturday’s quarterfinals at ITA Indoor Nationals.
MADISON, Wis. — The No. 1 University of Texas Women's Tennis team claimed a 4-1 victory against No. 10 USC on Friday night at Nielsen Tennis Stadium in a Round of 16 match at the ITA (Intercollegiate Tennis Association) National Team Indoor Championship. With the win, the Longhorns (6-0) advance to the quarterfinals against No. 8 Oklahoma on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Central.
Texas grabbed a 1-0 lead by winning the doubles point. The sophomore duo of Peyton Stearns and Charlotte Chavatipon broke a 2-2 tie and won four consecutive games to post a 6-2 victory on court 2 over Salma Ewing and McKenna Koenig. Stearns and Chavatipon improved to 4-0 in dual-match doubles action this season. USC's No. 35-ranked tandem of Eryn Cayetano and Grace Piper evened the count with a 6-2 win on court 1 against sophomore Kylie Collins and freshman Sabina Zeynalova.
Freshman twin sisters Allura Zamarripa and Bella Zamarripa clinched the doubles point with a 6-3 victory on court 3 over Danielle Willson and Snow Han. Tied at 2-2, the twins earned a service break and held serve to grab a 4-2 lead. After the Trojans held serve to trim the margin to 4-3, the Zamarripa twins held serve and then closed out the win with a service break.
No. 42 Stearns opened singles action with a dominant 6-2, 6-1 victory on court 1 against Cayetano, the nation's top-ranked singles player. After dropping the opening two games of her match, Stearns won 12 of the next 13 games to close out the match and improve to 8-0 overall this season in singles play, including a 5-0 mark in dual-match play. The Trojans trimmed the deficit to 2-1 after No. 52 Han answered with a 6-1, 6-4 victory on court 3 over Chavatipon.
Freshman Vivian Ovrootsky increased UT's lead to 3-1 with a 6-3, 6-4 win on court 5 against Willson. Trailing 4-3 in the second set, Ovrootsky broke Willson, held serve and broke Willson again to close out the victory and move to 5-0 in dual-match singles play this year. Zeynalova clinched the overall dual-match win with a 6-3, 7-5 win on court 4 over Piper. Trailing 5-3 in the second set, Zeynalova won four-straight games and finished the match with a break on deuce point to improve to 5-0 in dual-match singles action this season.
The remaining two matches were stopped following Zeynalova's clinch. Sophomore Malaika Rapolu held a 5-3 lead (and was serving at 40-love) in the third set when her match on court 6 against Koenig was stopped. No. 26 Collins was tied at one set each in her match on court 2 against No. 18 Ewing.
#1 Texas 4, #10 USC 1
Singles – Order of finish (1, 3, 5, 4)
- #42 Peyton Stearns (UT) def. #1 Eryn Cayetano (USC), 6-2, 6-1
- #26 Kylie Collins (UT) vs. #18 Salma Ewing (USC), 5-7, 6-3, unfinished
- #52 Snow Han (USC) def. Charlotte Chavatipon (UT), 6-1, 6-4
- Sabina Zeynalova (UT) def. Grace Piper (USC), 6-3, 7-5
- Vivian Ovrootsky (UT) def. Danielle Willson (USC), 6-3, 6-4
- Malaika Rapolu (UT) vs. McKenna Koenig (USC), 2-6, 6-1, 5-3, unfinished
Doubles – Order of finish (2, 1, 3)
- #35 Eryn Cayetano/Grace Piper (USC) def. Kylie Collins/Sabina Zeynalova (UT), 6-2
- Peyton Stearns/Charlotte Chavatipon (UT) def. Salma Ewing/McKenna Koenig (USC), 6-2
- Allura Zamarripa/Bella Zamarripa (UT) def. Danielle Willson/Snow Han (USC), 6-3
Players Mentioned
