The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Maryland
No. 12 Women's Tennis preview: ITA Kickoff Weekend
01.23.2025 | Women's Tennis
The Longhorns open their 2025 home schedule against Maryland on Friday, while also hosting Baylor and BYU during the ITA Kickoff.
No. 12 Women's Tennis preview: ITA Kickoff Weekend
Team Records: Texas (0-1, 0-0 SEC), Baylor (1-0, 0-0 Big 12), BYU (2-0, 0-0 Big 12), Maryland (0-0, 0-0 Big Ten)
Where: Texas Tennis Center, Austin, Texas
Live Stats: https://hookem.at/WTN-Stats
Live Video: https://hookem.at/WTN-Watch
Broadcast: Cracked Racquets (YouTube) (Alex Gruskin, pxp)
Tournament Homepage: https://hookem.at/ITAKickoff25
Updated Statistics
Tournament Schedule
Should play be forced indoors due to weather an alternate schedule will be posted.
Friday, January 24
No. 12 Texas vs. Maryland, 12 p.m., North Courts
Baylor vs. BYU, 3 p.m., North Courts
Saturday, Jan. 25
Texas-Maryland winner vs. Baylor-BYU winner, 3 p.m., TBD Courts
Texas-Maryland loser vs. Baylor-BYU loser, 3 p.m., TBD Courts
Notes
-ITA Kickoff Weekend
Texas is hosting an ITA Kickoff Weekend regional for the seventh-straight year with the last time not hosting being 2018 when the team traveled to Berkeley, Calif. During that trip, the Longhorns defeated Mississippi State and Cal to begin a 14-match winning streak in ITA Kickoff regionals that has led them to the ITA National Indoor Championships for the past seven years. In that stretch, Texas has faced Baylor four times (2019, '21, '23, '24) and won all four contests. The Longhorns last loss in a regional came in 2017 when they were downed by UNC in Chapel Hill in the championship match.
-Maryland Series: Never met
Texas and Maryland are meeting for the first time in records dating back to 1978.
Last Meeting
N/A
-Baylor Series: Texas leads, 46-19
Texas leads the all-time series with Baylor, 46-19, dating back to 1983. In a series of streaks, the Longhorns won the first 29 contests, before the Bears broke through with one in 2005. Texas won later that year, but Baylor won the next 13, followed by one win for the Longhorns in 2012 and five for Baylor after that. Texas has since won the last 15 meetings, including a pair of 4-0 sweeps last year, beginning in the first round of the ITA Kickoff Weekend in Austin, and followed by the teams' regular season finale in Waco. The year prior, the Longhorns won twice in Austin – 6-1 to conclude the regular season and claim the Big 12 Championship, and 4-0 in the championship match of the 2023 ITA Kickoff, which was played indoors.
Last Two Meetings
#8 Texas 4, #34 Baylor 0
Sunday, April 14, 2024
Hurd Tennis Center • Waco, Texas
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)
#10 Texas 4, Baylor 0
Friday, January 26, 2024
Texas Tennis Center • Austin, Texas
Singles – Order of Finish (3,4,2)
1. Sabina Zeynalova (UT) vs. Miska Kadleckova (BU) 6-5, unf.
2. #20 Tanya Sasnouskaya (UT) def. Sierra Berry (BU) 6-2, 6-1
3. #45 Malaika Rapolu (UT) def. Liubov Kostenko (BU) 6-2, 6-1
4. #106 Charlotte Chavatipon (UT) def. Isabella Harvison (BU) 6-1, 6-1
5. Taisiya Pachkaleva (UT) vs. #102 Zuzanna Kubacha (BU) 1-6, 3-3, unf.
6. Vivian Ovrootsky (UT) vs. Danielle Tuhten (BU) 6-4, 3-2, unf.
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,2)
1. Sabina Zeynalova/Taisiya Pachkaleva (UT) def. Liubov Kostenko/Sierra Berry (BU) 6-2
2. Tanya Sasnouskaya/Malaika Rapolu (UT) def. Miska Kadleckova/Danielle Tuhten (BU) 6-1
3. Vivian Ovrootsky/Charlotte Chavatipon (UT) vs. Isabella Harvison/Zuzanna Kubacha (BU) 2-5, unf.
-BYU Series: Texas leads, 8-5
Texas leads the all-time series with BYU, 8-5, dating back in records starting in 1978. The two teams met as Big 12 conference opponents last season when the Cougars joined the league. That match was a 6-1 win for the Longhorns on Senior Day in Austin. Prior to that, they last met in 1996 in Austin after facing each other five times in the 90s and six times in the 80s, along with the first meeting in 1979. The Cougars won the contests in 1979 and 1996, in addition to 1980, 1988 and 1989, while the Longhorns won four-straight in the series form 1990-95 and three-straight from 1983-87. Texas holds a 4-3 advantage in the seven matches played in Austin.
Last Meeting
#8 Texas 6, #36 BYU 1
Saturday, April 6, 2024
Texas Tennis Center • Austin, Texas
Singles – Order of Finish (3,4,5,2,6,1)
1. #27 Malaika Rapolu (UT) def. #105 Bobo Huang (BYU) 7-6 (5), 6-1
2. #117 Charlotte Chavatipon (UT) def. Tina Li (BYU) 6-2, 6-3
3. #34 Tanya Sasnouskaya (UT) def. Kaavya Sawhney (BYU) 6-0, 6-3
4. Taisiya Pachkaleva (UT) def. Kara Wheatley (BYU) 6-4, 6-2
5. Vivian Ovrootsky (UT) def. Emilee Astle (BYU) 7-5, 6-1
6. Madison Smith (BYU) def. Shachf Lieberman (UT) 7-5, 1-6, 1-0 (7)
Doubles – Order of Finish (3,2)
1. #64 Malaika Rapolu/Tanya Sasnouskaya (UT) vs. Bobo Huang/Kaavya Sawhney (BYU) 5-2, unf.
2. Charlotte Chavatipon/Vivian Ovrootsky (UT) def. Emilee Astle/Madison Smith (BYU) 6-3
3. Taisiya Pachkaleva/Shachf Lieberman (UT) def. Tina Li/Kara Wheatley (BYU) 6-1
-ITA Team Rankings
Just like last season, Texas was ranked No. 7 in the ITA preseason coaches poll, which was released January 6, however after falling in the season opener at USC, fell to No. 12. The Longhorns finished the 2023-24 season No. 11, just outside of the Top 10 where they had finished each of the previous six years. UT earned a No. 6 ranking in 2018, No. 9 in 2019, No. 4 in 2020, No. 1 in both 2021 and 2022, and No. 7 in 2023.
-ITA Individual National Rankings
Four UT singles players were included in the latest ITA singles rankings that were released in December following fall play. All four are in the top-100 with three freshmen in the top-65.
Texas
Singles
No. 28 Carmen Herea
No. 44 Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo
No. 65 Ashton Bowers
No. 95 Vivian Ovrootsky
Doubles
N/A
Maryland
Singles
No. 88 Kallista Liu
Doubles
No. 72 Danielle Hack/Kallista Liu
Baylor
Singles
No. 76 Na Dong
No. 118 Wenfei Yu
Doubles
No. 13 Liubov Kostenko/Cristina Tiglea
BYU
Singles
N/A
Doubles
No. 56 Yujia Huang/Kendall Kovick
-So close in LA
Texas came up just short, 4-3, at No. 17 USC in Los Angeles on January 17 in the 2025 season opener, however they earned three individual wins against top-50 opponents. The ranked wins were led by a top-10 doubles victory for senior Sabina Zeynalova and Ashton Bowers over the No. 7 pair of Grace Piper and Lily Fairclough at No. 1. Meanwhile, Zeynalova also defeated No. 37 Piper at No. 1 singles, and Eszter Meri topped No. 45 Emma Charney at No. 2 singles. The other singles win came from Vivian Ovrootsky at No. 6 singles. Despite the win at No. 1 doubles, USC had taken the doubles point with wins at Nos. 3 and 2, and then collected singles wins at Nos. 5, 3 and 4 to clinch the overall match.
-Horns host Texas Invite
The Longhorns hosted players from San Diego, Tennessee and Wisconsin at the Texas Invite from January 10-12 in Austin. Day one was forced indoors to the Weller Tennis Center due to weather, but the last two days were able to be held at the Texas Tennis Center. Both freshman Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo and junior Vivian Ovrootsky posted 6-0 records over the three days, playing in the maximum number of three singles matches and three doubles matches and winning them all. Freshman Carmen Herea also posted a top-10 victory over No. 10 Elza Tomase of Tennessee on the second day, while Anazagasty-Pursoo downed No. 19 Catherine Aulia, also of Tennessee. In all, Texas posted a combined 16 singles and doubles wins.
-Joffe in Year 10
Head Coach Howard Joffe is in his 10th 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 seven years in the top 11 of the final ITA national polls, earning year-end rankings of No. 6 in 2018, No. 9 in 2019, No. 4 in 2020, No. 1 in both 2021 and 2022, No. 7 in 2023 and No. 11 in 2024. The Longhorns also have captured four Big 12 regular-season championships (2018, 2019, 2021 and 2023-co) and four Big 12 postseason tournament titles (2018, 2021, 2022 and 2023) in their last seven opportunities in the last six chances (2020 season canceled due to COVID-19).
The 2021 ITA Division I Women's National Coach of the Year, Joffe has registered a 189-47 (.800) mark in his time at Texas. During his 18 seasons as a collegiate head coach, he has tallied a 320-108 (.748) 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 six Longhorns earn a total of eight 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, Kylie Collins in 2022, and Malaika Rapolu in 2024) 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, 19 players have registered a combined 26 All-Big 12 singles and 22 All-Big 12 doubles selections in Joffe's tenure in Austin.
-Back from 2024
Texas will have a different look from 2024, but at the same time return five familiar faces. Senior Sabina Zeynalova, who has significant experience at the top of the singles lineup is back after being limited much of last season due to injury. Junior Vivian Ovrootsky also returns after compiling a 27-12 singles record last year and a 26-9 doubles mark. Following Zeynalova's injury, sophomore Shachf Lieberman stepped into the lineup admirably as a true freshman and posted a 7-4 singles record at No. 6, and a 7-5 doubles mark at No. 3. Sophomore Maddy MacNeille, who played in one dual match last season, and redshirt freshman Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz, also return.
-Seven newcomers arrive for their first dual match season on the 40
The Longhorns add seven new faces for 2025 with three of those already earning ITA singles rankings following the fall in freshmen No. 28 Carmen Herea from Bucharest, Romania, No. 44 Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo from Westbury, N.Y., and No. 65 Aston Bowers from Alpharetta, Ga. In addition to those, a pair of freshmen from Slovakia in Eszter Meri of Trstena na Ostrove, and Salma Drugdova of Zvolen, are expected to be impact players in the lineup. The Longhorns also added a pair of native Texans in Lucy Schmeil of Austin and Audrey Deatherage of Tyler.
-Fall/Summer Wrap-up
In the first year of the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships being moved to the fall, freshmen Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo and Ashton Bowers both received singles bids. Anazagasty-Pursoo fell to top-30 player Carson Tanguilig of North Carolina in the round of 64, while Bowers was forced to withdraw due to injury. However, prior to that, both reached the singles final of the ITA Texas Regionals with Anazagasty-Pursoo winning the title. Additionally, Vivian Ovrootsky had reached the semifinals to give the Longhorns three out of four in that round, and Ovrootsky won the third-place match. The pairing of Ovrootsky and Bowers also reached the doubles quarterfinals.
Players Mentioned
