The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
05.25.2022 | Women's Tennis
Stearns and Allura Zamarripa move on to the NCAA Doubles Quarterfinals and earn ITA Doubles All-America honors.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — University of Texas sophomore Peyton Stearns earned a three-set victory in the Round of 16 at the NCAA Singles Championships on Wednesday afternoon at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex. Stearns and freshman Allura Zamarripa later added a straight-set victory in the Round of 16 on Wednesday evening at the NCAA Doubles Championships.
The No. 11-ranked duo of Stearns and Zamarripa claimed a 6-2, 6-2 win over the No. 21-ranked tandem of Daria Kuczer and Tenika McGiffin of Tennessee. With their win, Stearns and Zamarripa automatically earn ITA (Intercollegiate Tennis Association) Doubles All-America honors. The criteria for ITA All-America honors for doubles include earning a top-8 seed into the NCAA Doubles Championship, advancing to the quarterfinals at the NCAA Doubles Championship, or finishing in the top 10 of the final ITA Doubles rankings.
Stearns and Zamarripa broke Kuczer and McGiffin in the first game of the match and raced to a 4-0 lead in their opening set. Each pair held serve over the next three games to make it 5-2. Stearns and Zamarripa then held serve again to close out the 6-2 first-set win.
After Kuczer and McGiffin held to open the second set, Stearns and Zamarripa held serve, earned a service break at-love and then held serve on a deuce point to build a 3-1 cushion. Kuczer and McGiffin held serve to trim the margin to 3-2, but Stearns and Zamarripa held serve, claimed another service break and held serve again to finish the match. Stearns and Zamarripa improved to 13-3 overall in doubles this season and will face No. 13 Daevenia Achong and Eden Richardson of Miami (Fla.) on Thursday, May 26 in the quarterfinals at 4 p.m. Central.
Earlier in the afternoon during singles play, No. 2 Stearns posted a 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 win against No. 30 Elizabeth Scotty of North Carolina. Tied at 2-2 in the opening set, Scotty earned a service break on a deuce point to take a 3-2 advantage. Stearns responded with a service break on a deuce point, held serve on a deuce point, earned another service break on a deuce point and held serve again on a deuce point to close out the 6-3 first-set win.
Tied at 2-2 in the second set, Scotty held serve before breaking Stearns and holding serve again to take a 5-2 lead. Stearns answered by holding serve and forcing a service break to climb to within 5-4, but Scotty followed with a service break to earn a 6-4 second-set victory. Stearns opened the third set with a service break and held her own serve to grab a 2-0 advantage. After Scotty held her serve, Stearns held serve and followed with a service break to build a 4-1 cushion. Scotty earned a service break on a deuce point to pull to within 4-2, before Stearns responded with a service break and held serve to finish out the match. Stearns improved to 30-2 overall in singles play this season and will face No. 7 Eryn Cayetano on Thursday, May 26 in the quarterfinals at 12:30 p.m. Central.
No. 49 Kylie Collins closed out her impressive sophomore season with a hard-fought 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) defeat to No. 55 Fiona Crawley of North Carolina in the Round of 16. Tied at 1-1 in the opening set, Collins broke Crawley to gain a 2-1 advantage. Crawley answered with a service break, held serve and broke Collins to take a 4-2 lead. After Collins answered with a service break, Crawley earned a break on a deuce point and then held serve on a deuce point to close out the 6-3 first-set win.
Tied at 3-3 in the second set, Crawley claimed a service break and held serve on a deuce point to build a 5-3 cushion. In the following game, Collins rallied from down 30-40 to save two match points and held serve at deuce. She then earned a service break at-love to even the set at 5-5. Crawley broke Collins to gain a 6-5 advantage, but Collins again answered with a service break to send the set into a tiebreaker. Tied at 3-3 in the breaker, Crawley won back-to-back points to take a 5-3 lead. Collins responded by winning the next two points to even the breaker at 5-5, but Crawley claimed back-to-back points to post a 7-5 win in the tiebreaker.
Collins concluded her year with a 27-11 overall record in singles. She will earn ITA Singles All-America honors by virtue of advancing to the NCAA Singles Round of 16.
NCAA Women's Singles & Doubles Championship
Round of 16 Matches (Texas participants only) – May 25
Singles
#55 Fiona Crawley (UNC) def. #49 Kylie Collins (UT), 6-3, 7-6 (7-5)
#2 Peyton Stearns (UT) def. #30 Elizabeth Scotty (UNC), 6-3, 4-6, 6-2
Doubles
#11 Peyton Stearns/Allura Zamarripa (UT) def. #21 Daria Kuczer/Tenika McGiffin (Tennessee), 6-2, 6-2
