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No. 9 Women’s Tennis earns 4-0 sweep at No. 33 Texas Tech
04.02.2023 | Women's Tennis
The Longhorns win their seventh-straight match to improve to 17-3 overall (7-1 Big 12) on the season.
LUBBOCK, Texas — The No. 9 University of Texas Women's Tennis team posted an impressive 4-0 sweep at No. 33 Texas Tech on Sunday afternoon at the McLeod Tennis Center. The Longhorns (17-3, 7-1 Big 12) claimed the doubles point and won three singles matches in straight sets against the Red Raiders (13-7, 3-3 Big 12) to record their seventh-consecutive dual-match victory, including six straight against nationally-ranked opponents.
Texas grabbed an early 1-0 lead after claiming a hard-fought doubles point. The tandem of freshman Nicole Khirin and junior Malaika Rapolu earned a 6-2 victory on court 3 over Kate Dmitrichenko and Camryn Stepp. Khirin and Rapolu jumped out to a 4-0 lead and cruised to the win to record the pair's first dual-match victory of the season. Texas Tech's No. 50-ranked duo of Metka Komac and Avelina Sayfetdinova responded with a 6-4 win on court 1 against the No. 41-ranked tandem of junior Charlotte Chavatipon and sophomore Sabina Zeynalova. Tied at 4-4, Komac and Sayfetdinova earned a service break on a deuce point and held serve in the following game to close out the victory.
The pair of junior Taisiya Pachkaleva and freshman Nicole Rivkin clinched the doubles point for the Longhorns with a 7-6 (7-2) victory on court 2 over Olivia Peet and Cristina Tiglea. Tied at 3-3, Pachkaleva and Rivkin earned a service break and then held serve to build a 5-3 cushion. Peet and Tiglea won three-straight games to take a 6-5 advantage, before Pachkaleva and Rivkin held serve to force a tie breaker. Trailing 2-1 in the breaker, Pachkaleva and Rivkin won the next six points to finish off the victory and move to 13-4 overall in doubles, including an 11-4 mark in dual-match play.
No. 76 Khirin opened singles action with a 6-2, 6-3 victory on court 1 over Peet. Leading 3-2 in her opening set, Khirin held serve, claimed a service break and held serve again to close out the first-set win. She won the opening four games of the second set and built a 5-1 cushion, before Peet won back-to-back games to trim the margin to 5-3. Khirin earned a service break in the following game to finish off the victory and improve to 9-4 in dual-match singles action this spring.
Pachkaleva gave the Longhorns a 3-0 advantage with a 6-1, 6-4 win on court 4 against Dmitrichenko. Pachkaleva won the first three games of her opening set and cruised to the 6-1 set victory. She built a 5-2 cushion in the second set, before Dmitrichenko won consecutive games to close to within 5-4. Pachkaleva then held serve on a deciding point to close out her victory and move to 15-2 overall in singles this year, including a 13-2 record in dual-match play.
Rivkin clinched the overall dual-match victory for the Longhorns for the second-straight match (did the same in Friday's 4-2 win at TCU) with a 6-3, 6-1 win on court 6 against Andreea Lila. Rivkin won the first four games of her opening set, before Lila claimed back-to-back games to narrow the score to 4-2. Both players held serve in the next three games as Rivkin closed out the 6-3 first-set win. Rivkin claimed the first three games of the second set. After Lila earned a service break to make it 3-1, Rivkin answered with a service break, held serve on a deciding point and closed out the match with another service break on a deciding point to improve to 14-5 overall in singles this season, including a 12-4 mark in dual-match action.
The remaining singles matches featuring No. 66 Chavatipon (court 2), No. 110 Zeynalova (court 3) and Rapolu (court 5) were stopped after Rivkin clinched the overall dual-match win. All three Texas players won the opening set in their respective matches.
Texas is back in action when it travels to face No. 7 NC State in a non-conference contest on Monday, April 10. First serve is set for 1 p.m. Central (2 p.m. Eastern) at the Isenhour Tennis Center in Raleigh, N.C.
#9 Texas 4, #33 Texas Tech 0
Singles – Order of finish (1, 4, 6)
- #76 Nicole Khirin (UT) def. Olivia Peet (TT), 6-2, 6-3
- #66 Charlotte Chavatipon (UT) vs. Avelina Sayfetdinova (TT), 6-4, 4-3, unfinished
- #110 Sabina Zeynalova (UT) vs. Cristina Tiglea (TT), 6-4, 2-2, unfinished
- Taisiya Pachkaleva (UT) def. Kate Dmitrichenko (TT), 6-1, 6-4
- Malaika Rapolu (UT) vs. Metka Komac (TT), 7-5, 3-2, unfinished
- Nicole Rivkin (UT) def. Andreea Lila (TT), 6-3, 6-1
Doubles – Order of finish (3, 1, 2)
- #50 Metka Komac/Avelina Sayfetdinova (TT) def. #41 Charlotte Chavatipon/Sabina Zeynalova (UT), 6-4
- Taisiya Pachkaleva/Nicole Rivkin (UT) def. Olivia Peet/Cristina Tiglea (TT), 7-6 (7-2)
- Nicole Khirin/Malaika Rapolu (UT) def. Kate Dmitrichenko/Camryn Stepp (TT), 6-2
Players Mentioned
