The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Baylor
No. 8 Women’s Tennis sweeps No. 34 Baylor, 4-0, in regular season finale
04.14.2024 | Women's Tennis
The Longhorns recorded their seventh sweep in Big 12 play and will be the 2 seed in the conference tournament.
Waco, Texas – No. 8 Texas Women's Tennis (19-4, 12-1) earned a 4-0 sweep over No. 34 Baylor (16-11, 7-6) in the final match of the Big 12 regular season on Sunday afternoon at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco.
It marked the seventh sweep in 13 Big 12 matches for the Longhorns, who will be the 2 seed in the conference tournament this week in Stillwater. Texas will have a first-round bye and then on Thursday, April 18, at 3 p.m. CT, will face the winner of the match between the 7 seed and the 10 seed.
After taking the doubles point with wins at Nos. 1 and 3, the Longhorns received singles victories from freshman Shachf Lieberman at No. 6, sophomore Vivian Ovrootsky at No. 5, and senior No. 123 Taisiya Pachkaleva at No. 4.
In doubles, the No. 37 pair of senior Malaika Rapolu and graduate Tanya Sasnouskaya were the first to finish with a 6-2 win over Isabella Harvison and Liubov Kostenko at No. 1. The match's first three games stayed on serve, with Rapolu and Sasnouskaya earning a deuce-point hold in the third game for 2-1. The Texas tandem then collected a deuce-point break in the following game for 3-1, but Harvison and Kostenko broke back for 3-2. However, the Longhorns closed it from there with a 3-0 run which saw them collect two breaks in the process.
Baylor evened the doubles contest when Ovrootsky and senior Charlotte Chavatipon fell to Miska Kadleckova and Danielle Tuhten, 6-3, at No. 2. The Bears began the match with a 3-0 run which featured a deuce-point hold in the third game. The Longhorns collected a deuce-point hold of their own to end the Baylor duo's run, making the score 3-1, but the match's remaining games were all on serve, with the final game being on a deuce point for the Kadleckova and Tuhten win.
All eyes then turned to court 3 where the doubles point would be decided in the match between Longhorns' duo of Pachkaleva and Lieberman and the Bears' tandem of Lauren Littell and Brooke Thompson. Pachkaleva and Lieberman found themselves trailing, 5-2, before turning their fortunes around by winning the next four games for a 6-5 lead. They had a match point at deuce in the following game, but Baylor fended it off for a tiebreaker. In the breaker, the first four points were all held before the Bears collected a minibreak for a 3-2 lead then held for 4-2. From there, it was all Pachkaleva and Lieberman, who went on a 5-0 run to take the match, 7-6 (4).
In singles, Lieberman was the first off the court with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Littell at No. 6. Lieberman opened the match with a 4-0 run, which saw her claim the last three of those games on deuce points. Littell managed to hold then break for 4-2, but Lieberman would go on to win all of the match's remaining games for an 8-0 run. In the run, Lieberman earned two deuce-point holds, earning the freshman wins in all five of the match's deuce-point games.
Ovrootsky was the next Longhorn to finish with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Daniella Dimitrov on court 5. At 2-1, Ovrootsky earned the match's first break for 3-1, beginning a five-game break streak in the match for 5-3. The sophomore ended the trend with a deuce-point hold to win the first set. The second set started similarly to the first, with the first three games being held before Ovrootsky collected a break for 3-1. This time, however, Ovrootsky's break was the second win of what would become a 5-0 run to give her the win. At 5-1, Dimitrov threated to hold serve and prolong the set, but Ovrootsky earned a deuce-point break to close the door and provide Texas a 3-0 overall lead.
No. 123 Pachkaleva clinched the sweep for Texas with a 6-3, 6-1 win against Tuhten on court 4. The first set was highly competitive, with five of the nine games being deuce-point decisions. The match's first three games stayed on serve, with the first game being on a deuce point for a 1-0 Tuhten advantage, before she later claimed a deuce-point break for 3-1. Pachkaleva surged back, winning the match's next eight games and collecting three deuce-point wins in the process. With Pachkaleva leading, 3-0, in the second set, Tuhten broke for 3-1, but Pachkaleva would break back on a deuce point and go on to win the match's remaining three games to finish with 11 of the last 12.
No. 20 Rapolu, No. 119 Chavatipon, and No. 33 Sasnouskaya's matches were all left unfinished once Pachkaleva clinched the match. Rapolu led No. 118 Kadleckova, 7-5, 1-0, at No. 1 when play ended. In the first set, Rapolu found herself behind Kadlechova, 5-2, having dropped two games that were deuce-point decisions leading up to that point. From there, the senior answered with a 6-0 run which saw her claim two deuce-point breaks in the process to take the first set and lead the second 1-0.
Chavatipon trailed in a competitive match against Harvison, 7-5, 2-1, on court 2 before the contest was left unfinished. Three of the match's first four games were decided on deuce points, with Chavatipon earning a deuce-point hold in the first game and both players earning deuce-point breaks in the third and fourth games. At 2-2, the match's next six games stayed on serve before Harvison broke then held to take the first set. Harvison had just collected the second set's first break for 2-1 when play was left unfinished.
On court 3, Sasnouskaya's match against Kostenko was left at a 6-3, 2-5 score. Kostenko earned the match's first break for 2-1, but Sasnouskaya broke back on a deuce point then held for 3-2. Kostenko held to even it, but the Sasnouskaya went on a 4-0 run to take the first set and begin the second set with a 1-0 advantage. Kostenko evened the second set with a deuce-point break for 1-1 which spurred a 4-0 run for a 4-1 lead. Both players held serve in the next two games for 4-2 and 5-2, and the eighth game was sitting at deuce when play stopped.
#8 Texas 4, #34 Baylor 0
Singles – Order of Finish (6,5,4)
1. #118 Miska Kadleckova (BU) vs. #20 Malaika Rapolu (UT) 5-7, 0-1, unf.
2. Isabella Harvison (BU) vs. #119 Charlotte Chavatipon (UT) 7-5, 2-1, unf.
3. Liubov Kostenko (BU) vs. #33 Tanya Sasnouskaya (UT) 3-6, 5-2, unf.
4. #123 Taisiya Pachkaleva (UT) def. Danielle Tuhten (BU) 6-3, 6-1
5. Vivian Ovrootsky (UT) def. Daniella Dimitrov (BU) 6-3, 6-1
6. Shachf Lieberman (UT) def. Lauren Littell (BU) 6-2, 6-0
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,2,3)
1. #37 Malaika Rapolu/Tanya Sasnouskaya (UT) def. Isabella Harvison/Liubov Kostenko (BU) 6-2
2. Miska Kadleckova/Danielle Tuhten (BU) def. Charlotte Chavatipon/Vivian Ovrootsky (UT) 6-3
3. Taisiya Pachkaleva/Shachf Lieberman (UT) def. Lauren Littell/Brooke Thompson (BU) 7-6 (4)
Players Mentioned
