The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Women’s Tennis’ Collins and Stearns advance at NCAA Singles Championship
05.23.2022 | Women's Tennis
Kylie Collins earned a straight-set win over No. 3 seed Petra Hule of Florida State in Monday’s Round of 64.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — University of Texas sophomores Kylie Collins and Peyton Stearns earned straight-set wins in the Round of 64 at the NCAA Singles Championships on Monday night at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex. Less than 24 hours after helping Texas win its second-straight and fourth overall NCAA team championship in program history on Sunday night, No. 49 Collins registered an impressive 6-2, 7-5 win over the No. 3 seed Petra Hule of Florida State, while No. 2 seed Stearns followed with a 6-0, 6-4 victory against No. 67 Sydni Ratliff of Ohio State.
Collins recorded one of the best individual wins of her collegiate career in the straight-set victory over Hule. Entering Monday's match, Hule had posted a 22-1 overall singles record and had won 10-consecutive matches. After Hule began the match with a service break, Collins responded with a service break of her own and held serve to take a 2-1 lead. Collins earned a service break on a deuce point and then rallied from down 15-40 to hold serve on a deuce point and build a 4-1 cushion. Both players held serve on deuce points in the next two games to give Collins a 5-2 advantage, and Collins finished the set with a break on a deuce point.
Hule jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the second set. Collins held serve, forced a service break, held serve again and claimed another break to even the set at 5-5. Collins continued her run by holding serve and closed out the victory with a final service break. Collins improved to 26-10 overall in singles play this season and will face No. 32 Carolyn Campana of Wake Forest on Tuesday, May 24 in the Round of 32 at a time to be determined.
Stearns quickly raced to a 6-0 first-set shutout against Ratliff. After Stearns held serve to open the second set, Ratliff held serve on a deuce point and followed with a service break to take a 2-1 lead. Stearns responded with a service break of her own to even the set at 2-2, and she followed by winning the next three games to build a 5-2 cushion. Ratliff held serve on a deuce point and forced a service break to trim the margin to 5-4. Stearns closed out the match with a service break on a deuce point. Stearns moved to 28-2 overall in singles play this season and will face No. 23 Alexandra Yepifanova of Stanford on Tuesday, May 24 in the Round of 32 at a time to be determined.
The No. 11-ranked duo of Stearns and freshman Allura Zamarripa open play in the NCAA Doubles Championship on Tuesday, May 24. Stearns and Zamarripa will face No. 19 Angelica Blake and Connie Ma of Stanford in the Round of 32. The start time for this match has not been determined.
NCAA Women's Singles Championship
Round of 64 Matches (Texas participants only) – May 23
#2 Peyton Stearns (UT) def. #67 Sydni Ratliff (Ohio St), 6-0, 6-4
#49 Kylie Collins (UT) def. #3 Petra Hule (FSU), 6-2, 7-5
