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No. 3 Women’s Tennis preview: No. 2 Oklahoma (NCAA Championship Match)
05.22.2022 | Women's Tennis
The Longhorns seek their second straight and fourth overall NCAA team title when they face the Sooners on Sunday (7 p.m. Central).
No. 3 TEXAS (25-4) vs. No. 2 Oklahoma (32-2)
When: Sunday, May 22 (7 p.m. CT)
Where: Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex (Champaign, Ill.)
Live Video: TennisONE App (download: https://t1.app.link/ncaa2022)
Live Stats: https://hookem.at/WTN-Stats
Texas in the NCAA Championship Match, Again: The Longhorns are making their second straight and sixth overall appearance in the NCAA Championship Match in program history. With a win on Sunday, Texas would claim its fourth NCAA team title. UT previously captured NCAA team championships in 1993, 1995 and 2021 and posted NCAA runner-up finishes in 1992 and 2005.
Texas in the NCAA Championships: The No. 4 overall seed in the 2022 NCAA Championship, Texas is making its 37th NCAA Championship appearance in program history. The Longhorns have posted a 63-33 all-time record in NCAA Tournament play. Texas has captured NCAA team titles in 1993, 1995 and 2021 and posted NCAA runner-up finishes in 1992 and 2005.
It's a Red River Matchup for the Fourth Time This Year: Texas faces a familiar opponent in Sunday's NCAA Championship Match. The Longhorns and Sooners will be meeting for the fourth time during the 2022 spring season. Oklahoma has won two of the first three matchups this year. The Sooners earned a 4-1 victory in the ITA Indoor National quarterfinals on Feb. 12 in Madison, Wis. Oklahoma then posted a 4-3 win in Norman on March 27, before the Longhorns claimed a 4-2 victory in the Big 12 Tournament championship match in Fort Worth on April 24.
Peaking at the Right Time: Texas enters Sunday's contest playing its best tennis of the season. The Longhorns have won 11 straight and 18 of their last 19 matches dating back to a 4-3 victory at then-No. 6 California on Feb. 27. Fifteen of those 18 victories have come against opponents who were nationally ranked, including 11 top-25 foes. Texas recorded back-to-back 4-0 sweeps against Ball State and No. 18 Michigan in the NCAA First and Second Rounds. The Longhorns added a 4-1 victory over No. 14 Auburn in the NCAA Round of 16, a 4-2 win against No. 5 Virginia in the NCAA Quarterfinals and a 4-2 victory over No. 1 North Carolina in the NCAA Semifinals.
Doubles Improvement: After opening the spring by winning the doubles point in just five of their first nine matches, the Longhorns have solidified their lineup and won the doubles point in 16 of their last 20 matches entering Sunday's contest.
The duo of Peyton Stearns and Allura Zamarripa have posted an 11-3 record in dual-match doubles play this spring (6-3 on court 1) and are No. 11 in the latest ITA national doubles rankings (May 4). Playing on court 2 until midway through the spring, the pair claimed a 6-2 victory over No. 55 Sofia Cabezas and Miska Kadleckova of Iowa State (March 20). The tandem moved to court 1 and earned a 6-2 win against No. 14 Lisa Marie Rioux and Ayumi Miyamoto of Oklahoma State (March 25) and followed with a 7-5 victory over No. 4 Carmen Corley and Ivana Corley of Oklahoma (March 27). Stearns and Zamarripa also claimed a 6-3 win over No. 6 Carmen Corley and Ivana Corley of Oklahoma (April 24) in the championship match of the Big 12 tourney and added a 6-3 victory over No. 2 Fiona Crawley and Elizabeth Scotty of North Carolina (May 21) in the NCAA Semifinals.
The sophomore tandem of Charlotte Chavatipon and Kylie Collins have registered a 17-3 overall doubles record, including a 12-1 mark in dual-match play this spring (10-1 on court 2). Chavatipon and Collins are No. 67 in the latest ITA national doubles rankings (May 4) and have registered a 4-1 record in the NCAA Tournament. The Chavatipon-Collins tandem claimed a 7-6 (9-7) win on court 2 against No. 50 Alexandra Pisareva and Layne Sleeth of Oklahoma (March 27), a 6-0 win on court 2 over No. 75 Mananchaya Sawangkaew and Martina Zerulo of Oklahoma State (April 23) and clinched the doubles point in the Big 12 tourney championship match with a 7-6 (7-5) victory on court 2 against Alexandra Pisareva and Layne Sleeth of Oklahoma (April 24). Chavatipon/Collins earned a 6-3 win on court 2 over No. 62 Elaine Chervinsky and Natasha Subhash of Virginia in the NCAA Quarterfinals (May 20) and followed with a 6-1 victory on court 2 against Alle Sanford and Carson Tanguilig of North Carolina in the NCAA Semifinals (May 21).
The freshman pair of Sabina Zeynalova and Bella Zamarripa have played together just six times this season and sport a 2-2 record overall. The duo made its first appearance since April 23 (vs. Oklahoma State, Big 12 Championship semifinals) in Friday's NCAA Quarterfinals and claimed an impressive 6-3 win on court 3 against No. 73 Sofia Munera and Amber O'Dell of Virginia. Zeynalova and Bella Zamarripa returned to the court in Saturday's NCAA Semifinals and held a 5-4 lead over Cameron Morra and Reilly Tran of North Carolina when UT clinched the doubles point.
Joffe in Year Seven: Head Coach Howard Joffe is in his seventh season leading the UT program. The 2021 ITA Division I Women's National Coach of the Year, he led the Longhorns to the NCAA Championship in 2021, marking the school's first national title in women's tennis since 1995. Joffe has registered a 140-36 (.795) mark in his seven years at Texas and a 271-97 (.736) record in 15 seasons as a collegiate head coach. He has helped four Longhorns earn a total of five ITA All-America honors in singles (Breaunna Addison in 2016, Bianca Turati in 2018, Anna Turati and Bianca Turati in 2020 and Peyton Stearns in 2021) and one duo earn ITA All-America accolades in doubles (Kylie Collins and Lulu Sun in 2021), while 14 of his UT players have registered a combined 19 All-Big 12 singles and 18 All-Big 12 doubles selections.
Players Mentioned
