AUSTIN, Texas — The No. 3 University of Texas Women’s Tennis team (21-4) earned a 4-0 sweep against Ball State (19-5) in a NCAA First Round match on Friday afternoon at the Texas Tennis Center. With the win, the Longhorns advance to host No. 18 Michigan in the NCAA Second Round at 3 p.m. Central on Saturday, May 7.
Texas improved to 6-0 in NCAA First Round matches under head coach Howard Joffe. Michigan (20-5) earned its spot in the NCAA Second Round with a 4-0 victory against No. 37 Oregon (15-9) on Friday.
UT grabbed an early 1-0 advantage by winning the doubles point. The No. 67-ranked duo of sophomores Charlotte Chavatipon and Kylie Collins claimed a 6-0 shutout on court 2 over Masha Polishchuk and Emma Peeler. Chavatipon and Collins improved to 14-2 overall in doubles this year, including a perfect 9-0 mark in dual-match play.
The No. 11-ranked pair of sophomore Peyton Stearns and freshman Allura Zamarripa clinched the doubles point with a 6-4 win on court 1 against Amy Kaplan and Hannah Davies. Kaplan and Davies jumped out to a 3-1 cushion before Stearns and Zamarripa won back-to-back games to tie the match at 3-3. After the two tandems split the next two games, Stearns and Zamarrripa held serve to take a 5-4 lead and then broke Kaplan and Davies to close out the 6-4 victory. Stearns and Zamarripa moved to 10-2 in dual-match action this spring.
The Longhorns added three dominant straight-set victories in singles to close out the sweep. Chavatipon earned a 6-0, 6-1 win on court 4 over Davies to give Texas a 2-0 advantage. Chavatipon won the first eight games of her match and cruised to the victory to move to 18-10 overall in singles this season, including an 11-3 mark in dual-match play on court 4.
Allura Zamarripa followed with a 6-1, 6-0 victory on court 5 against Livia Lukacs. Zamarripa raced out to a 4-0 cushion in the opening set. After Lukacs won the following game to close to within 4-1, Zamarripa rattled off eight-straight games to close out her win and improve to 8-2 in dual-match singles play this spring.
Freshman No. 93 Sabina Zeynalova clinched the overall dual-match win with a 6-1, 6-1 victory on court 3 over Kaplan. Zeynalova won the opening five games of her match and cruised to a 6-1 first-set win. After Kaplan claimed the first game of the second set, Zeynalova won six-straight games to finish the victory and move to 18-1 in dual-match singles action this season.
The remaining three singles matches featuring No. 2 Stearns (court 1), No. 49 Collins (court 2) and freshman Vivian Ovrootsky (court 6) were stopped once Zeynalova clinched the dual-match win. All three Texas players won their opening sets and held commanding leads in the second set when play was halted.
Admission to tomorrow’s Texas-Michigan match as well as the Texas Men’s match against LSU (Noon CT) in the NCAA Second Round is free to the general public.
#3 Texas 4, Ball State 0
Doubles – Order of finish (2, 1)
- #11 Peyton Stearns/Allura Zamarripa (UT) def. Hannah Davies/Amy Kaplan (BS), 6-4
- #67 Charlotte Chavatipon/Kylie Collins (UT) def. Emma Peeler/Masha Polishchuk (BS), 6-0
- Sabina Zeynalova/Vivian Ovrootsky (UT) vs. Jessica Braun/Livia Lukacs (BS), 3-4, unfinished
Singles – Order of finish (4, 5, 3)
- #2 Peyton Stearns (UT) vs. Masha Polishchuk (BS), 6-1, 5-3, unfinished
- #49 Kylie Collins (UT) vs. Jessica Braun (BS), 6-2, 4-1, unfinished
- #93 Sabina Zeynalova (UT) def. Amy Kaplan (BS), 6-1, 6-1
- Charlotte Chavatipon (UT) def. Hannah Davies (BS), 6-0, 6-1
- Allura Zamarripa (UT) def. Livia Lukacs (BS), 6-1, 6-0
- Vivian Ovrootsky (UT) vs. Elena Malykh (BS), 6-1, 4-1, unfinished