The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Oklahoma
No. 18 Women’s Tennis preview: vs. No. 6 Oklahoma (ITA Indoors Round of 16)
02.05.2026 | Women's Tennis
The Longhorns open play in their ninth-straight trip to the ITA National Indoor Championships against the Sooners on Friday.
No. 18 Women's Tennis preview: vs. No. 6 Oklahoma (ITA Indoors Round of 16)
No. 18 (7 seed Champaign) Texas vs. No. 6 (2 seed Champaign) Oklahoma
Team Records: Texas (2-1, 0-0 SEC), Oklahoma (7-0, 0-0 SEC)
When: Friday, Feb. 6, 2025, 12 p.m. CT
Where: Atkins Tennis Center, Champaign, Ill.
Live Stats: https://hookem.at/WTN-Stats
Live Video: https://hookem.at/WTN-Watch
Web Broadcast: Cracked Racquets (YouTube)
Tournament Central
-Tournament Schedule
Friday, February 6 (Round of 16)
Illinois site
[3] Texas A&M vs. [6] Vanderbilt - 9 a.m.
[2] Oklahoma vs. [7] Texas - 12 p.m.
[1] North Carolina vs. [8] Illinois - 3:30 p.m.
[4] Duke vs. [5] Ohio State - 6:30 p.m.
Northwestern site
[3] LSU vs. [6] Tennessee - 9 a.m.
[2] Georgia vs. [7] Virginia - 12 p.m.
[1] Auburn vs. [8] Northwestern - 3:30 p.m.
[4] Oklahoma State vs. [5] NC State - 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, February 7 (Quarterfinals and Consolation)
Sunday, February 8 (Consolation)
Monday, February 9 (Semifinals at Northwestern)
Tuesday, February 10 (Finals at Northwestern)
Notes
-Nine-straight trips to the ITA National Indoor Championships
In advancing out of the 2026 ITA Kickoff Weekend Texas Regional, the Longhorns advanced to the ITA National Indoor Championships for the ninth-straight year. Texas has reached the quarterfinals in six of those trips, including the last four (2019, 2021-25), while advancing all the way to the final in 2021 when they were edged by then No. 1 North Carolina, 4-3, in what would be the only loss of the season on the way to winning the first of back-to-back NCAA National Championships. That was UT's second all-time appearance in the final, along with 2006 against Stanford. The Longhorns have also won two matches in five of the last six tournaments, including consolation matches in 2020, 2022 and 2023 (2021 began in the quarters). Last season, after a Round of 16 win over No. 3 Oklahoma State, Texas fell to No. 2 Texas A&M in the quarters and then No. 7 Michigan in a consolation match.
-Oklahoma Series: Texas leads, 46-3
Texas leads the all-time series with Oklahoma, 46-3, dating back to 1978. The Longhorns have won the last eight meetings, including last season, which was a 4-3 victory (clinched at 4-2) at the Texas Tennis Center in their first meeting as members of the SEC. They prevailed twice the year before with a 4-2 victory the Big 12 Tournament semifinals and the other 4-3 during the regular season in Austin. In the previous season, they faced off three times with one for the Big 12 Championship title in Lawrence (4-2), one in Austin (5-2), and one at ITA National Indoors (4-2) in Seattle. The teams faced each other four times in 2022 with Texas winning matches that claimed both the National Championship in Champaign, Ill. (4-1), and the Big 12 Championship crown in Fort Worth (4-2), while Oklahoma won in Norman (4-3) and at the ITA Indoors in Madison, Wisc. (4-1). Those marked the first wins for the Sooners since the only other in 2003, a 4-3 decision in Austin, accounting for the only three in the series.
Last Meeting
#11 Texas 4, #12 Oklahoma 3
Friday, February 28, 2025
Austin, Texas • Texas Tennis Center
Singles – Order of Finish (4,6,1,3,2,5)
1. #104 Ashton Bowers (TEX) def. #33 Alina Shcherbinina (OU) 6-4, 6-0
2. #124 Eszter Meri (TEX) def. #12 Julia Garcia Ruiz (OU) 7-5, 6-3
3. Salakthip Ounmuang (OU) def. #107 Vivian Ovrootsky (TEX) 6-3, 7-5
4. #25 Carmen Herea (TEX) def. #64 Emma Staker (OU) 6-1, 6-1
5. #105 Ava Catanzarite (OU) def. Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz (TEX) 2-6, 6-3, 6-3
6. Gloriana Nahum (OU) def. #54 Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo (TEX) 6-2, 6-1
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,3)
1. #63 Ashton Bowers/Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo (TEX) def. Chloe Noel/Alina Shcherbinina (OU) 6-2
2. Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz/Salma Drugdova (TEX) vs. Julia Garcia Ruiz/Ava Catanzarite (OU) 5-5, unf.
3. Carmen Herea/Eszter Meri (TEX) def. #53 Salakthip Ounmuang/Gloriana Nahum (OU) 6-2
-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, Oklahoma is No. 6.
-ITA Individual National Rankings
Texas
Singles
No. 2 Carmen Herea
No. 63 Anastasia Abbagnato
Doubles
No. 34 Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo/Anastasia Abbagnato
Oklahoma
Singles
No. 12 Julia Garcia Ruiz
No. 123 Chloe Noel
Doubles
No. 1 Roisin Gilheany/Gloriana Nahum
No. 40 Julia Garcia Ruiz/Oyinlomo Quadre
No. 56 Chloe Noel/Gloriana Nahum
-Ionescu named SEC Women's Tennis Freshman of the Week
Elizabeth Ionescu was named the SEC Women's Tennis Freshman of the Week for the week of January 28-February 3. It marks the first weekly SEC honor of her career and first for the Longhorns this season. Ionescu went a combined 4-0 in singles and doubles, including the first singles win of her collegiate career, which came over Pia Kranholdt of Iowa at No. 4 that clinched the overall match. Ionescu and partner Carmen Herea also clinched the doubles point against Wisconsin. Ionescu joined the team in January and had only played one singles and one doubles match in her collegiate career prior to this past weekend.
-Sweep of Big Ten road trip
Texas completed a sweep of their two-match Big Ten road trip with a 5-2 victory over Wisconsin at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium on February 1. The Longhorns used a top-five win at No. 1 doubles and combined it with a win at No. 3 to claim the doubles point. After Wisconsin picked up a win at No. 3 singles, Texas followed with singles wins by Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo at No. 5, Elizabeth Ionescu at No. 6, Carmen Herea at No. 1, and Eszter Meri at No. 4. The Badgers then closed the scoring with a win at No. 2.
-First win in first visit to Iowa City
The Longhorns earned a 6-1 win at Iowa on January 30 in their first-ever road match against the Hawkeyes. Texas captured the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 3 and followed with singles wins by Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo at No. 5 and Carmen Herea at No. 1, Elizabeth Ionescu at No. 4 for the clinch, Salma Drugdova at No. 6, and Christasha McNeil at No. 3.
-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 208-58 (.782) mark in his time at Texas. During his 20 seasons as a collegiate head coach, he has tallied a 339-119 (.740) 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
