The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Washington
No. 1 Women’s Tennis preview: ITA National Team Indoor Championship
02.08.2023 | Women's Tennis
The Longhorns open play in the Round of 16 against host Washington on Friday night.
No. 1 TEXAS (6-0) vs. Washington (5-1)
When: Friday, Feb. 10 (8:30 p.m. CT/6:30 p.m. PT)
Where: Nordstrom Tennis Center (Seattle, Wash.)
Team Rankings: Texas is No. 1 in the latest ITA Collegiate Tennis rankings sponsored by Tennis-Point (Feb. 1). This marks the fifth consecutive poll that the Longhorns have held the top spot in the rankings. UT earned the No. 1 spot in last year's final poll and has been No. 1 in the first four polls this season (Jan. 4, Jan. 18, Jan. 25 and Feb. 1). Texas has finished each of the last five years in the Top 10 of the final ITA national polls. UT earned a No. 6 ranking in 2018, No. 9 in 2019, No. 4 in 2020 and No. 1 in both 2021 and 2022.
Individual Rankings: Four UT players are included in the current ITA national Top 125 singles rankings (Feb. 8): Charlotte Chavatipon (No. 61), Malaika Rapolu (No. 69), Sabina Zeynalova (No. 71) and Marlee Zein (No. 113). One pair is included in the current ITA national Top 60 doubles rankings (Feb. 8): Charlotte Chavatipon and Sabina Zeynalova (No. 47).
Last Time Out: Texas claimed an impressive 6-1 victory against No. 24 USC (Feb. 4) indoors at Weller Tennis Center. Charlotte Chavatipon and Sabina Zeynalova posted individual wins in both singles and doubles action. The Longhorns tallied four singles wins against ranked opponents. Zeynalova earned a dominant 6-1, 6-0 victory on court 3 over No. 17 Snow Han, while Chavatipon claimed a 6-4, 6-2 win on court 2 over No. 24 Eryn Cayetano. Taisiya Pachkaleva rallied for an 0-6, 6-3, 6-1 victory on court 5 against No. 83 Emma Charney, and Malaika Rapolu added a 4-6, 6-0, 7-6 (7-4) win on court 4 over No. 96 Naomi Cheong.
Headed to Seattle for ITA Indoor Nationals: Texas earned a spot in the upcoming ITA National Team Indoor Championships (Feb. 10-13) in Seattle by claiming the title at the ITA Kick-off Weekend regional championship in Austin (Jan. 27-28). The Longhorns earned a 4-0 victory over Fresno State (Jan. 27) in the opening round at the Texas Tennis Center. Texas followed with a 4-0 win against Baylor (Jan. 28) in the regional championship match, which was moved indoors due to weather and played at the Weller Tennis Center.
Dual-Match Dominance: Texas players have registered a 22-3 (.880) mark in dual-match singles play and a 12-1 (.923) record in dual-match doubles action entering the ITA National Team Indoor Championships. Chavatipon has posted a 5-0 mark in singles, while Sabina Zeynalova (4-0), Malaika Rapolu (4-0) and Nicole Rivkin (4-0) all have unbeaten marks. The tandem of Taisiya Pachkaleva and Nicole Rivkin have led the way on the doubles court with a 4-0 mark (all at No. 2 doubles).
Successful Opening Dual-Match Weekend: The Longhorns opened the 2023 dual-match season with three home wins over a three-day stretch (Jan. 20-22). Texas earned a 4-0 win over North Texas on Jan. 20, a 5-2 victory against SMU on Jan. 21 and a 5-0 win over Tulane on Jan. 22.
Chavatipon Claims Big 12 Honor: Charlotte Chavatipon was named the Big 12 Conference Women's Tennis Player of the Week (Jan. 24), marking the first weekly conference honor of her career. She posted a perfect 5-0 individual record, including a 3-0 mark in singles and a 2-0 record in doubles play against North Texas (Jan. 20), SMU (Jan. 21) and Tulane (Jan. 22). She played at the No. 1 line in all three singles matches and won all three in straight sets, surrendering just 13 games in six sets played. Her singles action was highlighted by a 6-4, 6-2 victory against No. 113 Hadley Doyle of SMU. On the doubles front, Chavatipon teamed with Sabina Zeynalova at the No. 1 line and earned a 2-0 record. The duo's weekend was highlighted by a dominant 6-1 victory against SMU's No. 32-ranked tandem of Jackie Nylander and Taylor Johnson (Jan. 21).
Solid Start to the Spring in Miami: Texas recorded a total of 22 combined singles and doubles wins during the three-day Miami Invitational (Jan. 13-15) in Coral Gables, Fla. Marlee Zein posted a perfect 5-0 record at the Miami Invitational, including a 3-0 mark in singles play and a 2-0 slate in doubles.
Back-to-Back NCAA Team Championships: Texas posted a 26-4 dual-match record during the 2022 season and captured their second-straight and fourth NCAA team title in program history with a 4-1 victory against Oklahoma in the championship match. UT previously won NCAA Championships in 1993, 1995 and 2021. The Longhorns joined Stanford and Florida as the only schools to repeat as NCAA Division I Women's Tennis national champions since 1982.
Big 12 Preseason Favorite: Texas is picked to win the Big 12 Conference title in a preseason vote of the league coaches. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own teams. UT was selected as the preseason Big 12 favorite for a fifth-consecutive year and sixth time in the poll's history. Texas received eight of a possible nine first-place votes and 80 points in polling for the upcoming 2023 season. Oklahoma ranked second with 73 points and two first-place votes, while Oklahoma State was tabbed third with 61 points. Rounding out the poll in descending order are Iowa State (59), Kansas (46), Baylor (43), Texas Tech (33), TCU (29), Kansas State (16) and West Virginia (10).
Joffe in Year Eight: Head Coach Howard Joffe is in his eighth season leading the UT program. Under Joffe's leadership, Texas claimed back-to-back NCAA team championships in 2021 and 2022 and has finished each of the last five years in the top 10 of the final ITA national polls, earning year-end rankings of No. 6 in 2018, No. 9 in 2019, No. 4 in 2020 and No. 1 in both 2021 and 2022. The Longhorns also have captured three Big 12 regular-season championships (2018, 2019 and 2021) and three Big 12 postseason tournament titles (2018, 2021 and 2022) in the last five seasons.
The 2021 ITA Division I Women's National Coach of the Year, Joffe has registered a 147-36 (.803) mark in his eight years at Texas. During his 16 seasons as a collegiate head coach, he has tallied a 278-97 (.741) dual-match record. Peyton Stearns claimed the Honda Sport Award for Tennis and the ITA National Player of the Year in 2022. Joffe has helped five Longhorns earn a total of seven ITA All-America honors in singles (Breaunna Addison in 2016, Bianca Turati in 2018, Anna Turati and Bianca Turati in 2020, Stearns in both 2021 and 2022 and Kylie Collins in 2022) and two duos earn ITA All-America accolades in doubles (Kylie Collins and Lulu Sun in 2021 and Stearns and Allura Zamarripa in 2022). Stearns became the first player in program history to win the NCAA Singles Championship in 2022, while Collins and Sun reached the finals of the NCAA Doubles Championship in 2021. In addition, 14 players have registered a combined 19 All-Big 12 singles and 18 All-Big 12 doubles selections in Joffe's tenure in Austin.
Players Mentioned
