The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Iowa
No. 18 Women's Tennis preview: at Iowa
01.29.2026 | Women's Tennis
The Longhorns head to Iowa on Friday for their first-ever road match against the Hawkeyes.
No. 18 Women's Tennis preview: at Iowa
Team Records: Texas (0-1, 0-0 SEC), Iowa (3-2, 0-0 Big Ten)
When: Friday, January 30, 2026, 12 p.m. CT
Where: Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Complex, Iowa City, Iowa
Live Stats: https://hookem.at/WTN-Stats
Live Video: https://hookem.at/WTN-Watch
Notes
-Iowa Series: Texas leads, 2-0
Texas leads the all-time series with Iowa, 2-0, in records dating back to 1978. Those two matches came in consecutive years in 2020 and 2021, both at the ITA Kickoff Weekend in Austin and both resulting in 4-0 sweeps for the Longhorns. However, Texas has played in Iowa City once before, competing in the 1982 AIAW National Championships there.
Last Meeting
#3 Texas 4, Iowa 0
Saturday, January 23, 2021
Austin, Texas • Texas Tennis Center (ITA Kickoff First Round)
Singles – Order of finish (3,4,6)
#66 Peyton Stearns (UT) vs. #97 Alexa Noel (Iowa), 6-3, 3-2, unf.
#5 Anna Turati (UT) vs. Elise van Heuvelen (Iowa), 6-2, 3-2, unf.
#94 Lulu Sun (UT) def. Vipasha Mehra (Iowa), 6-1, 6-0
#125 Charlotte Chavatipon (UT) def. Samantha Gilas (Iowa), 6-2, 6-2
Kylie Collins (UT) vs. Samantha Mannix (Iowa), 1-6, 6-0, 1-1, unf.
Malaika Rapolu (UT) def. Michelle Bacalla (Iowa), 6-2, 6-0
Doubles – Order of finish (2,3)
Kylie Collins/Lulu Sun (UT) vs. Alexa Noel/Samantha Mannix (Iowa), 3-3, unf.
#48 Fernanda Labraña/Anna Turati (UT) def. Elise van Heuvelen/Michelle Bacalla (Iowa), 6-0
Charlotte Chavatipon/Peyton Stearns (UT) def. Danielle Bauers/Samantha Gilas (Iowa), 6-1
-ITA Team Rankings
Texas was tabbed No. 12 in the preseason poll released January 7 by the ITA after finishing last season at No. 13. The Longhorns were then No. 17 on January 21 and No. 18 on January 28. The Longhorns closed 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. Meanwhile, Iowa is not ranked.
-ITA Individual National Rankings
Texas
Singles
No. 2 Carmen Herea
Doubles
N/A
Iowa
Singles
N/A
Doubles
No. 82 Shuqian Xu/Eline Bex
-Back to the ITA National Indoors
Although matches for the ITA Kickoff Weekend in Austin were canceled due to inclement weather, the Longhorns advanced to the ITA National Indoor Championships as the high seed of the regional. As a result, Texas will be making its ninth-straight trip to the national tournament, which will be played this year from February 6-9 in Champaign and Chicago, Ill., with the Longhorns having been assigned play in Champaign.
-Joffe in Year 11
Head Coach Howard Joffe is in his 11th 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 eight years in the top 13 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, No. 11 in 2024, and No. 13 in 2025. The Longhorns also 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 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 206-58 (.780) mark in his time at Texas. During his 20 seasons as a collegiate head coach, he has tallied a 337-119 (.739) 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 2025
Texas will have a different look from 2025, but at the same time return a few familiar faces. The roster will feature six returners, four of whom had match experience, including sophomores Carmen Herea, Eszter Meri, Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo and Salma Drugdova, along with redshirt freshman Audrey Deatherage and Lucy Schmeil.
-Five newcomers arrive for their first dual match season on the 40
The Longhorns add five new faces for 2026, all who are expected to be impact players, starting with Christasha McNeil of Lindenhurst, N.Y., and Mathilde Ngijol-Carré of Paris, France, who arrived in the fall. Three more joined the team in January, including Anastasia Abbagnato from Palermo, Italy, Elizabeth Ionescu from York, Pa., and Kate Mansfield of London, England.
-Summer/Fall Wrap-up
A number of players on the roster spent the summer and fall nursing injuries, leading to some of them not qualifying for fall ITA rankings. However, Eszter Meri captured the singles gold medal at the FISU World University Games in July, while Carmen Herea finished as the singles runner-up at one of the fall majors in the ITA All-Americans, and then was a quarterfinalist in the NCAA Singles Championships.
Players Mentioned
