Women's Tennis preview: Oklahoma, Oklahoma State
April 19, 2012
WHAT: No. 6 Texas (13-6, 6-1 Big 12) closes out the regular season this weekend with matches at No. 46 Oklahoma (10-10, 4-3 Big 12) and No. 51 Oklahoma State (10-7, 4-3 Big 12). A pair of Longhorns victories would assure Texas of at least a share of the Big 12 Conference regular season title. LIVE SCORING: LAST TIME OUT: Texas suffered a 4-3 defeat at Texas A&M (April 17). LAST MEETINGS AGAINST OKLAHOMA AND OKLAHOMA STATE: Texas defeated Oklahoma by a 4-2 count in the semifinals of the 2011 Big 12 Championship in Waco. The Horns defeated Oklahoma State by a 6-1 count on April 8, 2011 in Austin. ITA RANKINGS UPDATE Doubles WINNING THE HARD WAY
Texas opened the season with a 4-3 win over No. 4 North Carolina on a neutral site at the USTA’s Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, the site of the annual U.S. Open. The Longhorns ventured away from home again the following weekend when they participated in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend event. Texas edged No. 23 Alabama by a 4-3 count before toppling 17th-ranked Vanderbilt, the event host, by a 4-1 count. Two weeks later, Texas added a 4-3 win over No. 15 Clemson at the ITA National Team Indoor Championship in Charlottesville, Va. On March 2, in just their first home match of the season, the Longhorns overpowered No. 8 Northwestern from the start and emerged with a 6-1 victory over the Wildcats. Additionally, four of Texas’ six defeats have come against ITA top-10 foes – No. 3 USC, No. 4 Georgia, No. 6 Virginia and No. 10 Miami – with three of the matches played at neutral sites. GAYTAN-LEACH TABBED BIG 12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK In Saturday’s match against Baylor, with the team score knotted at three points apiece, Gaytan-Leach ended the three-match winning streak of Baylor’s Ema Burgic and won by a 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 count to give Texas a 4-3 win over the Bears. On Sunday against Texas Tech – UT’s then-undefeated counterpart atop the conference standings – Gaytan-Leach put away the Texas victory by rallying for a 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 win over the Lady Raiders’ Caroline Starck to give Texas an insurmountable 4-2 lead, which proved to be the winning margin after the doubles session was subsequently canceled due to rain. Notably, Gaytan-Leach rallied from a 3-0 third-set deficit and won six of the final seven games in the set to preserve her second match-clinching victory in as many days. Gaytan-Leach’s victory snapped Starck’s eight-match winning streak, which dated back to March 1. DAMICO NAMED BIG 12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK Damico opened her productive week with a come-from-behind three-set victory (0-6, 6-3, 6-4) over USC’s 18th-ranked Danielle Lao on March 14 in the Horns’ 4-3 defeat to the fourth-ranked Trojans. Damico notched her ninth and 10th consecutive victories in Texas’ weekend victories at Iowa State and Missouri. Damico helped the Horns jump out to a 2-0 mark in conference play with wins over Iowa State’s Maria Macedo (6-4, 6-3) and Missouri’s Nina Pantic (7-6, 6-2). She added a pair of doubles wins alongside Cierra Gaytan-Leach at No. 2 doubles against Iowa State and Missouri. Damico has won 12 of her last 13 singles matches and has only two losses in dual-match play. Eight of the 12 victories came against ranked opponents. YOUTH IS SERVED Freshman Lina Padegimaite holds a 15-4 dual-match record, which features a win over Georgia’s 80th-ranked Kate Fuller at the ITA National Team Indoor Championship. Gaytan-Leach owns 12 dual-match victories. She defeated North Carolina’s 76th-ranked Caroline Price at fourth singles in UT’s 4-3 win over the fourth-ranked Tar Heels. Gaytan-Leach also features wins over Clemson’s Romy Koelzer and Northwestern’s Linda Abu Mushrefova. Begley is enjoying a tremendous sophomore season with a 16-2 dual-match record and a 29-7 overall singles record. Begley owns a perfect 7-0 mark in conference play and has won 16 of her last 17 sets. Freshman Noel Scott boasts 15 overall singles victories in her freshman season, and her two of her five dual-match victories helped the Horns qualify for the ITA National Team Indoor Championship. In January, Scott posted a 6-2, 6-4 win over Alabama’s 40th-ranked Alexa Guarachi before defeating Vanderbilt’s 113th-ranked Lauren Mira, 6-0, 6-2. LONGHORNS CRACK THE ITA TOP-10 Texas moved up to No. 8 in the March 13 poll before dropping back to No. 9 in the March 20 release of the team rankings. The Horns ranked 13th in the April 10 poll but vaulted to a season-high No. 6 in the ITA team rankings this week.. THE 2011-12 LONGHORNS: Texas returns four regular singles starters from the 2010-11 squad that reached the finals of the Big 12 Championship and the round of 32 at the NCAA Championships. The Horns are led by junior Aeriel Ellis, who last season became UT's first ITA All-American since 1999. The Californian has qualified to compete in all eight of the previous national championship events contested during her two-plus seasons as a Longhorn. She reached the round of 16 of the singles draw at the 2011 NCAA Championships. Senior Krista Damico totaled a 21-16 overall singles record last season while playing primarily at No. 2 singles. The Colorado native is off to a solid start in dual-match play with victories over Alabama's 104th-ranked Courtney McLane and Vanderbilt's 110th-ranked Marie Casares. UT returns a talented sophomore class who saw significant time in the dual-match lineup last season. Juliana Gajic totaled a 13-6 dual-match record, primarily at No. 5 singles, and Cierra Gaytan-Leach totaled a 9-3 dual-match record. Elizabeth Begley has won nine of her last 10 decisions, including a win over Virginia's 89th-ranked Caryssa Peretz in January. Begley added two wins last month at the ITA National Team Indoors. Freshman Noel Scott defeated two ITA-ranked opponents in the Horns' two victories at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend event. Scott defeated Vanderbilt's 69th-ranked Lauren Mira by a 6-0, 6-2 count one day after toppling Alabama's 43rd-ranked Alexa Guarachi, 6-2, 6-4. |
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