The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Alabama
No. 14 Women’s Tennis preview: No. 31 Alabama
03.04.2026 | Women's Tennis
The Longhorns and Crimson Tide square off for the second-straight year in Austin on Thursday.
No. 14 Texas vs. No. 31 Alabama
Team Records: Texas (7-3, 2-1 SEC), Alabama (10-1, 2-1 SEC)
When: Thursday, March 5, 2026, 2 p.m. CT
Where: Texas Tennis Center, Austin, Texas
Live Stats: https://hookem.at/WTN-Stats
Live Video: https://hookem.at/WTN-Watch
Updated Stats
Notes
-Alabama Series: Tied, 3-3
The Texas-Alabama all-time series is tied, 3-3, in records dating back to 1978, including a 4-0 sweep by the Longhorns last year in their first match as SEC opponents. Prior to that, the last match came in 2016 in Tuscaloosa, which was a 4-3 win by the Crimson Tide in the championship match of the ITA Kickoff Weekend. They also faced each other each year from 2012-14, all at neutral sites, including consecutive wins by Alabama in ITA Indoors consolation matches in 2013 (4-3) and 2014 (4-1), both in Charlottesville, Va. The Longhorns won the other match in that stretch, 4-3, in the first round of the ITA Kickoff in Nashville, Tenn. In 2012. Texas also won the first meeting in 1982, 8-1, in the first round of the AIAW championships in Iowa City, Iowa.
Last Meeting
#16 Texas 4, #33 Alabama 0
Friday, April 4, 2026
Austin, Texas • Weller Indoor Tennis Center
Singles – Order of Finish (6,4,5)
1. #33 Carmen Herea (TEX) vs. #64 Petra Sedlackova (ALA) 6-2, 2-4, unf.
2. #91 Ashton Bowers (TEX) vs. Maria Martinez-Vaque (ALA) 6-1, 4-4, unf.
3. #76 Eszter Meri (TEX) vs. Sara Nayar (ALA) 6-3, 3-0, unf.
4. #80 Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo (TEX) def. Margaux Maquet (ALA) 6-2, 6-2
5. Vivian Ovrootsky (TEX) def. Priya Nelson (ALA) 6-2, 6-3
6. No player (TEX) def. No player (ALA), by forfeit
Doubles – Order of Finish (3,1)
1. #26 Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo/Ashton Bowers (TEX) def. Petra Sedlackova/Maria Martinez-Vaque (ALA) 6-3
2. Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz/Salma Drugdova (TEX) vs. Sara Nayar/Margaux Maquet (ALA) 5-4, unf.
3. No player/No player (TEX) def. No player/No player (ALA), by forfeit
-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, No. 18 on January 28. After a pair of top-10 wins, Texas moved back up to No. 10 on February 11, became No. 16 on February 19 and is currently No. 14. 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.
-ITA Individual National Rankings
Texas
Singles
No. 1 Carmen Herea
No. 16 Anastasia Abbagnato
No. 81 Eszter Meri
Doubles
No. 29 Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo/Anastasia Abbagnato
No. 47 Elizabeth Ionescu/Carmen Herea
No. 50 Elizabeth Ionescu/Christasha McNeil
Alabama
Singles
N/A
Doubles
N/A
-Singles No. 1
Carmen Herea rose to No. 1 in the ITA singles rankings released on March 3. In doing so, she became the fourth Longhorn since 1995 to ascend to the top spot, including Peyton Stearns in 2022, Bianca Turati in 2018 and Kelly Pace in 1995.
-Ionescu named SEC Women's Tennis Co-Freshman of the Week
Elizabeth Ionescu was named the SEC Women's Tennis Co-Freshman of the Week on March 4. It marks the second weekly SEC honor for her this season after she earned the same accolade on February 4. Ionescu went a combined 4-0 in helping Texas to two road wins with a 7-0 sweep at Missouri and a 5-2 victory at No. 39 Vanderbilt. Against the Commodores, Ionescu and partner Christasha McNeil earned a top-10 doubles victory over No. 10 Valeria Ray and Bridget Stammel. She later closed the overall match with a win over Erin Pearce at No. 5. She played No. 4 singles versus the Tigers and was first off the court with a decisive win over Andrea Artimedi. Prior to that, she and McNeil clinched the doubles point with over Zoe Lazar and Lara Quaglia at No. 2.
-Music City comeback
Texas rallied past No. 39 Vanderbilt, 5-2, on March 1 at the Lummis Family Tennis Center in Nashville. The Longhorns twice trailed by one point but used five singles victories to win their second-straight SEC road match. Vanderbilt captured the doubles point with wins at Nos. 1 and 3, but in between, Texas secured a top-10 win at No. 2. The Longhorns then tied it with a singles win by Anasatsia Abbagnato at No. 2, and although the Commodores retook the lead with a win at No. 4, Texas ran off four-straight victories by Mathilde Ngijol-Carré at No. 6, Eszter Meri at No. 3, Carmen Herea at No. 1 for the clinch, and Elizabeth Ionescu at No. 5 for the final margin.
-Sweep for first SEC win
Texas swept Missouri, 7-0, at the Columbia Country Club on February 28 to move to 1-1 in SEC play. Texas did not drop a set throughout the match, opening with doubles wins at Nos. 3 and 2 and following with singles wins at all six positions by Elizabeth Ionescu at No. 4, Christasha McNeil at No. 3, Carmen Herea at No. 1, Eszter Meri at No. 2, Mathilde Ngijol-Carré at No. 5 and Salma Drugdova at No. 6.
-So close on the road against the top-five
Texas fell at No. 5 Texas A&M, 4-3, on Feb. 23 in the Cotton Holdings Lone Star Showdown at the Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station. The Longhorns went the distance in the doubles point, pushing the deciding match at No. 1 to a deuce point that resulted in a 7-5 win by the Aggies. Just before that, Texas had taken a 6-4 victory at No. 2 after Texas A&M claimed a 6-2 win at No. 3. The Aggies followed with singles wins at Nos. 2 and 5 for a 3-0 lead, but the Longhorns had won the first set in the other four matches. Texas secured two of those matches by Christasha McNeil at No. 4 and Elizabeth Ionescu at No. 6 to pull within 3-2, but Texas A&M rallied from down a set for a win at No. 3 to clinch. Carmen Hera then completed the match with a three-set victory at No. 1 for the final.
-Sweeping the Vaqueros
Texas swept UTRGV, 7-0, on February 15 at the Texas Tennis Center in just their second home match of the season to move to 5-2 overall. Both doubles and singles were played out with the Longhorns only dropping one set throughout the match, which came in a tiebreaker. They took the doubles point with wins at Nos. 1-3 in that order, and then followed with singles victories by Elizabeth Ionescu at No. 3, Mathilde Ngijol-Carré at No. 4, Eszter Meri at No. 2 for the clinch, Kate Mansfield at No. 5, Salma Drugdova at No. 6, and Carmen Herea at No. 1.
-Abbagnato named SEC Women's Tennis Freshman of the Week
Anastasia Abbagnato was named the SEC Women's Tennis Freshman of the Week on February 11. It marked the first weekly SEC honor of her career and she became the second-straight Longhorn to earn the accolade, following Elizabeth Ionescu the week before. Abbagnato posted a combined 5-1 singles and doubles record, including four ranked victories with three in singles and one in doubles in wins over No. 12 Vanderbilt and No. 7 Duke after a narrow 4-3 defeat to No. 6 Oklahoma at the ITA National Indoor Championships. Abbagnato's singles wins all came at No. 2 over No. 12 Julia Garcia Ruiz of Oklahoma, No. 40 Bridget Stammel of Vanderbilt, and No. 120 Liv Hovde of Duke. The win over Stammel also clinched the overall match against Vanderbilt. She also won doubles matches with both Anazagasty-Pursoo and Mathilde Ngijol-Carré.
-Two top-12 wins at the ITA Indoors
After pushing No. 6 Oklahoma to the limit in a 4-3 defeat in the round of 16 of the ITA Indoors on February 6, the Longhorns earned a pair of top-12 wins over No. 12 Vanderbilt (4-1) and No. 7 Duke (4-3) in consolation matches in Urbana, Ill., on February 7 and 8, respectively. After the Commodores claimed a tight doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 1 that surrounded a win for the Longhorns at No. 3, Texas rattled of four-straight singles victories by Christasha McNeil at No. 3, Elizabeth Ionescu at No. 5, Carmen Herea at No. 1, and Anastasia Abbagnato at No. 2 for the clinch. Against the Blue Devils, the Longhorns had rallied from a 2-0 deficit after Duke claimed the doubles point and the first singles contest at No. 4. Texas then put together three-straight singles wins by Eszter Meri at No. 3, and Ionescu at No. 6, and Abbagnato at No. 2. The Blue Devils evened the overall match at 3-3 with a win at No. 1, setting the stage for the clinch by Kate Mansfield.
-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.
-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 reached the quarterfinals in six of those trips, including five of the last six (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 six of the last seven tournaments, including consolation matches in 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2026 (2021 began in the quarters).
-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 213-60 (.780) mark in his time at Texas. During his 20 seasons as a collegiate head coach, he has tallied a 344-121 (.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
