AUSTIN, Texas — The No. 2 University of Texas women's tennis team registered a 4-0 win against No. 27 Rice (11-3) on Saturday afternoon at the Texas Tennis Center. The Longhorns moved to 15-1 in dual-match play this year and recorded their ninth victory of the season against a ranked opponent.
UT has now posted 10 sweeps in its first 15 wins this year. The Longhorns improved to 70-11 (.864) in dual-match singles play and 32-5 (.865) in dual-match doubles competition this season.
Texas took a 1-0 lead by earning the doubles point for the 15th time in its first 16 dual matches this year. Tied at 4-4 on court 3, Rice's duo of Victoria Smirnova and Anna Bowtell won back-to-back games to close out a 6-4 victory against freshman Peyton Stearns and senior Marta Perez Mur.
The No. 10-ranked pair of freshmen Kylie Collins and Lulu Sun broke a 3-3 tie by winning three consecutive games to claim a 6-3 victory on court 1 against Diae El Jardi and Maria Budin. Collins and Sun improved to 11-1 in dual-match doubles play this spring and won their ninth consecutive match.
The No. 80-ranked duo of seniors Fernanda Labraña and Anna Turati clinched the doubles point by rallying for a 7-5 victory on court 2 over Michaela Haet and Linda Huang. Labraña and Turati dug out of a 3-0 deficit by winning three straight games to even the match at 3-3. With the set tied at 5-5, Labraña and Turati held serve and then broke Haet and Huang to close out the victory.
Texas played to a higher standard on the singles court, recording a trio of straight-set wins to seal the dual-match victory. No. 26 Turati posted a dominant 6-0, 6-0 win on court 2 against Bowtell and improved to 12-2 in dual-match singles action this season.
Labraña followed with an impressive 6-0, 6-2 victory on court 5 over Budin to move to 15-2 overall in singles, including a 7-1 mark in dual-match play. Freshman Malaika Rapolu closed out Saturday's action with a 6-3, 6-2 win on court 6 against El Jardi and improved to 15-2 overall in singles, including an 8-1 record in dual-match action.
The remaining three singles matches featuring No. 31 Stearns on court 1, No. 90 Sun on court 3 and No. 49 Collins on court 4 were stopped once Rapolu finished her victory. Texas held 1-0 set leads in all three remaining singles matches when play was halted.
UT returns to action when it hosts No. 7 Baylor in a Big 12 Conference showdown on Sunday, March 28. First serve is set for 12 p.m. Central at the Texas Tennis Center.
#2 Texas 4, #27 Rice 0
Singles – Order of finish (4, 5, 6)
- #31 Peyton Stearns (UT) vs. Michaela Haet (Rice), 7-6 (8-6), 1-1, unfinished
- #26 Anna Turati (UT) def. Anna Bowtell (Rice), 6-0, 6-0
- #90 Lulu Sun (UT) vs. Anastasia Smirnova (Rice), 6-3, 4-2, unfinished
- #49 Kylie Collins (UT) vs. #63 Linda Huang (Rice), 6-2, 5-3, unfinished
- Fernanda Labraña (UT) def. Maria Budin (Rice), 6-0, 6-2
- Malaika Rapolu (UT) def. Diae El Jardi (Rice), 6-3, 6-2
Doubles – Order of finish (3, 1, 2)
- #10 Kylie Collins/Lulu Sun (UT) def. Diae El Jardi/Maria Budin (Rice), 6-3
- #80 Fernanda Labraña/Anna Turati (UT) def. Michaela Haet/Linda Huang (Rice), 7-5
- Victoria Smirnova/Anna Bowtell (Rice) def. Peyton Stearns/Marta Perez Mur (UT), 6-4
