The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
North Carolina
No. 8 Women’s Tennis falls 4-2 to No. 1 North Carolina in NCAA Quarterfinals
05.17.2023 | Women's Tennis
The Longhorns conclude the season with a 24-5 record and their third-straight trip to the NCAA Elite Eight.
LAKE NONA, Fla. — The No. 8 University of Texas Women's Tennis team dropped a 4-2 decision to No. 1 North Carolina (33-1) in a NCAA quarterfinal match on Wednesday evening at the USTA National Campus. The Longhorns earned the doubles point and received a straight-set singles victory from sophomore Sabina Zeynalova.
Texas concluded the 2022-23 season with a 24-5 overall record, claiming the Big 12 regular-season and tournament championships and advancing to the NCAA Elite Eight for the third consecutive year. The Longhorns won the NCAA team title in both 2021 and 2022. This marked the 13th all-time appearance in the NCAA quarterfinals in program history, as UT has earned trips to the 'Elite Eight' in 1984, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2005, 2021, 2022 and 2023.
The Longhorns claimed a 1-0 lead after earning the doubles point. The tandem of Elizabeth Scotty and Carson Tanguilig posted a 6-2 victory on court 2 against junior Taisiya Pachkaleva and freshman Nicole Rivkin. Scotty and Tanguilig jumped out to a 3-0 cushion and cruised to the win.
The duo of junior Malaika Rapolu and freshman Nicole Khirin responded with a 6-4 win on court 3 over Reese Brantmeier and Reilly Tran. Rapolu and Khirin won the opening two games and built a 4-2 advantage. The two pairs each held serve over the next four games, as Rapolu and Khirin finished off the 6-4 victory.
The No. 26-ranked tandem of junior Charlotte Chavatipon and Zeynalova clinched the doubles point for the Longhorns with an impressive 7-5 victory on court 1 against Fiona Crawley and Abbey Forbes. Tied at 2-2, Chavatipon and Zeynalova won three-straight games to build a 5-2 advantage but Crawley and Forbes answered by claiming three-straight games to even the match at 5-5. Chavatipon and Zeynalova held serve to take a 6-5 lead and then claimed a service break to close out the win and improve to 14-6 in doubles play this season.
No. 100 Tran posted a 6-2, 6-2 win on court 5 over Rivkin to even the overall dual-match score at 1-1. Leading 3-2 in her opening set, Tran claimed nine of the next 11 games to close out her victory.
No. 116 Zeynalova gave the Longhorns a 2-1 advantage with her dominant 6-2, 6-3 victory on court 3 against No. 28 Tanguilig. Leading 3-2 in her opening set, Zeynalova won three-straight games to finish out the first set. Zeynalova built a 3-1 advantage in the second set, but Tanguilig won back-to-back games to even the set at 3-3. Zeynalova held serve on a deciding point in the following game before earning a service break and then holding serve again in the following game to close out the win and move to 18-7 overall in singles play this season, including a 17-5 mark in dual-match action.
No. 8 Brantmeier tied the match score at 2-2 with a 6-2, 7-5 win on court 1 over No. 74 Khirin. Khirin won the opening two games of the second set, but Brantmeier responded by winning two-straight games to even the set. Tied at 5-5, Brantmeier claimed a service break and then held serve in the following game to close out the match.
No. 1 Crawley followed with a 6-1, 7-5 victory on court 2 against No. 95 Chavatipon. After dropping the opening set, Chavatipon built a 5-2 cushion in her second set but Crawley rallied to win five consecutive games to finish the victory.
Moments later, No. 38 Anika Yarlagadda clinched the dual-match win with a 6-4, 6-3 victory on court 6 over Rapolu. Yarlagadda raced out to a 4-1 cushion in her opening set, but Rapolu won back-to-back games to climb to within 4-3. Yarlagadda won two of the next three games to close out the first set. Rapolu built a 3-0 cushion to open the second set, before Yarlagadda won six-straight games to finish out the victory.
The remaining singles match featuring Pachkaleva on court 4 against No. 107 Scotty was stopped when Yarlagadda clinched the dual-match victory. Scotty jumped out to a 4-0 advantage in the opening set, before Pachkaleva won five-straight games to take a 5-4 cushion. The first set moved to a tiebreaker, where Scotty held leads of 3-1 and 5-3. Pachkaleva won the next four points to win the breaker by a 7-5 score. The second set was even at 3-3 when the match was halted.
The duo of Chavatipon and Zeynalova will compete in the NCAA Doubles Championship on Monday, May 22 through Saturday, May 27 at the USTA National Campus.
Post-Match Quotes from Texas Head Coach Howard Joffe
On the match tonight against North Carolina …
Obviously, I'm bitterly disappointed with the outcome but in no way disappointed with the team. I couldn't be any more thrilled with the way they handled themselves and handled the season. We went against the top-ranked team in the country and there really wasn't too much separation. I feel like Taya (Taisiya Pachkaleva on court 4) was headed to get us to 3 (third point), and then Malaika (Rapolu, court 6) was 3-0 up in the second set and Charlotte (Chavatipon, court 2) was up 5-2 in her second set. There was definitely the ability to win that match. Over time, it will maybe hurt for the ladies a little bit more. Like I said, we are disappointed in the outcome but not even a sniff of disappointment with our players.
On the overall season …
I'm so happy for our players. They turned real potential lemons into lemonade this year. I can't be anything but proud of them. It's no secret that we were a little bit short-staffed with Vivian (Ovrootsky) out for the season due to injury. We played the last six weeks of the season with only six scholarship players. There were lots of tumult and distress and disappointments for a fairly young team or at least a team with four new faces, and what they did here in the last six weeks was remarkable. They won the Big 12 regular season and tournament titles and advanced to the Elite Eight and were perhaps five or six points away from beating North Carolina tonight.
#1 North Carolina 4, #8 Texas 2
Singles – Order of finish (5, 3, 1, 2, 6)
- #8 Reese Brantmeier (UNC) def. #74 Nicole Khirin (UT), 6-2, 7-5
- #1 Fiona Crawley (UNC) def. #95 Charlotte Chavatipon (UT), 6-1, 7-5
- #116 Sabina Zeynalova (UT) def. #28 Carson Tanguilig (UNC), 6-2, 6-3
- Taisiya Pachkaleva (UT) vs. #107 Elizabeth Scotty (UNC), 7-6 (7-5), 3-3, unfinished
- #100 Reilly Tran (UNC) def. Nicole Rivkin (UT), 6-2, 6-2
- #38 Anika Yarlagadda (UNC) def. Malaika Rapolu (UT), 6-4, 6-3
Doubles – Order of finish (2, 3, 1)
- #26 Charlotte Chavatipon/Sabina Zeynalova (UT) def. Fiona Crawley/Abbey Forbes (UNC), 7-5
- Elizabeth Scotty/Carson Tanguilig (UNC) def. Taisiya Pachkaleva/Nicole Rivkin (UT), 6-2
- Nicole Khirin/Malaika Rapolu (UT) def. Reese Brantmeier/Reilly Tran (UNC), 6-4
Players Mentioned
