No. 14 Women’s Tennis sweeps No. 31 Alabama, 4-0

Thursday, March 5

Austin, Texas

2 p.m. CT

University of Texas

Alabama

No. 14 Women’s Tennis sweeps No. 31 Alabama, 4-0

03.05.2026 | Women's Tennis

The Longhorns opened home SEC play with a sweep after five decisive victories with two in doubles and three in singles.

Austin – No. 14 Texas Women's Tennis swept No. 31 Alabama, 4-0, in their SEC home opener on Thursday at the Texas Tennis Center. The Longhorns completed the sweep after five decisive victories with two in doubles and three in singles to move to 8-3 overall and 3-1 in the conference.

Texas captured the doubles point with a 6-0 win at No. 2 and a 6-1 victory at No. 3. The Longhorns then followed with singles wins by freshman Elizabeth Ionescu at No. 5, sophomore No. 81 Eszter Meri at No. 3, and freshman Mathilde Ngijol-Carré at No. 6 for the clinch. Freshman No. 16 Anastasia Abbagnato was also two points from a potential win at No. 2 when play stopped.

In doubles, the No. 50 duo of Ionescu and freshman Christasha McNeil got the match going with a 6-0 sweep over Klara Milicevic and Maria Andrienko at No. 2 in a match that had no deuce points. The sophomore pair of Carmen Herea and Salma Drugdova then secured the point with a 6-1 win over Addison Bowman and Amina Salibayeva at No. 3, ending the match on a 5-0 run. The match at No. 1 was unfinished where Abbagnato and Ngijol-Carré were leading Kristina Paskauskas and Karla Bartel, 4-3, when play halted.

Ionescu then began singles with another efficient win, 6-2, 6-0, over Bowman at No. 5, and Meri was not far behind with her own decisive 6-2, 6-1 victory over Andrienko at No. 3. The clinch then came from Ngijol-Carré, who played an extended first set, but then swept the second over Salibayeva, 7-5, 6-0, at No. 6 to clinch it.

That left three matches unfinished, including Abbagnato holding a 7-5, 6-5 (30-0) lead over Milicevic at No. 2. Meanwhile, No. 1 Herea had just split sets with Paskauskas, 6-4, 3-6, at No. 1, and McNeil had begun her third set and led Bartel, 3-6, 6-3, 1-0, at No. 4.

The Longhorns will next host No. 33 Mississippi State at the Texas Tennis Center on Saturday, March 7, at 12 p.m. CT.

#14 Texas 4, #31 Alabama 0

Singles – Order of Finish (5,3,6)
1. #1 Carmen Herea (TEX) vs. Kristina Paskauskas (ALA) 6-4, 3-6, unf.
2. #16 Anastasia Abbagnato (TEX) vs. Klara Milicevic (ALA) 7-5, 6-5, unf.
3. #81 Eszter Meri (TEX) def. Maria Andrienko (ALA) 6-2, 6-1
4. Christasha McNeil (TEX) vs. Karla Bartel (ALA) 3-6, 6-3, 1-0, unf.
5. Elizabeth Ionescu (TEX) def. Addison Bowman (ALA) 6-2, 6-0
6. Mathilde Ngijol-Carré (TEX) def. Amina Salibayeva (ALA) 7-5, 6-0

Doubles – Order of Finish (2,3)
1. Anastasia Abbagnato/Mathilde Ngijol-Carré (TEX) vs. Kristina Paskauskas/Karla Bartel (ALA) 4-3, unf.
2. #50 Elizabeth Ionescu/Christasha McNeil (TEX) def. Klara Milicevic/Maria Andrienko (ALA) 6-0
3. Carmen Herea/Salma Drugdova (TEX) def. Addison Bowman/Amina Salibayeva (ALA) 6-1

Individual Match Key Moments
(by order of finish)

Doubles No. 2: Ionescu/McNeil (TEX) def. Milicevic/Andrienko (ALA) 6-0
Match: Texas swept the match with no deuce points.

Doubles No. 3: Herea/Drugdova (TEX) def. Bowman/Salibayeva (ALA) 6-1
Match: Texas recovered from 0-40 in the opening game to hold, and after Alabama also held, the Longhorns went on a 5-0 run, including another deuce-point hold for 4-1.

Doubles No. 1: Abbagnato/Ngijol-Carré (TEX) vs. Paskauskas/Bartel (ALA) 4-3
Match: Alabama broke at deuce to start, but Texas broke back and the rest of the match was on serve until play stopped, including a deuce-point hold for the Crimson Tide for 3-3.

Singles No. 5: Ionescu (TEX) def. Bowman (ALA) 6-2, 6-0
Set One: Ionescu jumped out to a 5-0 lead, including three deuce points. Bowman held and broke at deuce for 5-2, but Ionescu broke back to win.
Set Two: Ionescu swept the second set with just one deuce point, which was a hold for 3-0.

Singles No. 3: Meri (TEX) def. Andrienko (ALA) 6-2, 6-1
Set One: The first five games were on serve with a deuce-point hold for each player and a 3-2 lead for Meri, who closed the set on a 4-0 run.
Set Two: Andrienko broke in the first game, but Meri swept the rest of the way with just one deuce point, which was a break for 3-1.

Singles No. 6: Ngijol-Carré (TEX) def. Salibayeva (ALA) 7-5, 6-0
Set One: Salibayeva broke first for a 3-1 lead, but Ngijol-Carré went on a 3-0 run. The last of that was a break that started a string of five straight with two at deuce against Ngijol-Carré for 4-4 and 5-5. Ngijol-Carré broke for 6-5 and again her service game went to deuce, but she held for the win.
Sets Two: Ngijol-Carré swept the set with only one game going to deuce, which was a hold for 2-0.

Singles No. 1: Herea (TEX) vs. Paskauskas (ALA) 6-4, 3-6
Set One: Herea broke in the opening game and held for 2-0 but Paskauskas got the break back for 2-2 and the set was on serve until Herea broke again for 5-4 and served it out.
Set Two: Paskauskas took leads of 2-0 and 5-1, winning three of four deuce points in that stretch. Herea won consecutive deuce points to get within 5-3, but Paskauskas held for the win.

Singles No. 2: Abbagnato (TEX) vs. Milicevic (ALA) 7-5, 6-5
Set One: Milicevic moved out to leads of 4-0 and 5-1 with one deuce point for 2-0, but Abbagnato responded with a 6-0 run to win with no deuce points.
Set Two: Abbagnato broke in the first game, and although Milicevic again generated a 4-0 run capped by a deuce-point hold, Abbagnato won five of the last six games for a 6-5 lead and was up 30-0 when play stopped.

Singles No. 4: McNeil (TEX) vs. Bartel (ALA) 3-6, 6-3, 1-0
Set One: Four of the first five games went to deuce, including hold for McNeil for 1-0 and later three-straight breaks giving Bartel a 3-2 lead. Bartel picked up the only other break for 5-3.
Set Two: McNeil broke first for 4-3, held at deuce for 5-3 and broke again for 6-3.
Set Three: McNeil held the only game.