No. 9 Women’s Tennis preview: at Florida

The Longhorns head to Gainesville on Friday for their first-ever conference road match in the SEC.

No. 9 Women’s Tennis preview: at Florida

Team Records: Texas (8-4, 2-1 SEC), Florida (3-5, 0-3 SEC)
When: Friday, March 7, 2025, 5 p.m. ET/4 p.m. CT
Where: Alfred A. Ring Complex, Gainesville, Fla.
Live Stats: https://hookem.at/WTN-Stats
Live Video: https://hookem.at/WTN-Watch

Updated Team Stats

Notes

-Florida Series: Florida leads, 25-10
Florida leads the all-time series with Texas, 25-10, dating back to 1978. The teams played almost annually from 1980-2008, only missing 1982 and 1984 with a cancelled match in 2005. However, since 2008, they have only played once, which was a 4-0 sweep for the Longhorns in 2018 in Lake Nona, Fla. Prior to that, the Gators won 14 of the previous 15 matches from 1996-2008, while Texas took six in a row from 1993-1995 with the teams playing twice (one regular season/one NCAA postseason) each year. Florida won the eight meetings before that from 1987-91, while the Longhorns won three from 1983-86, and the Gators won three to start the series from 1980-83.

Last Meeting

#7 Texas 4, #12 Florida 0
Sunday, April 1, 2018
Lake Nona, Fla. • USTA National Campus
Singles – Order of Finish: 3, 6, 1, 4
1 No. 1 Bianca Turati (UT) def. No. 19 Anna Danilina (UF), 6-1, 6-3
2 No. 33 Anna Turati (UT) vs. No. 49 Josie Kuhlman (UF), 7-6 (2), 3-4, unf.
3 No. 77 Petra Granic (UT) def. Victoria Emma (UF), 6-1, 6-0
4 Bojana Markovic (UT) def. McCartney Kessler (UF), 7-5, 7-6 (3)
5 Katie Poluta (UT) vs. Peggy Porter (UF) 6-3, 5-6, unf.
6 Dani Wagland (UT) def. Katie Kubick (UF), 6-2, 6-1

*Doubles was scheduled to be played after singles on an ‘if needed’ basis and was not played.

-ITA Team Rankings
Just like last season, Texas was ranked No. 7 in the ITA preseason coaches poll, which was released January 6, however after falling in the season opener at USC, fell to No. 12, but rose to No. 11 after winning the ITA Kickoff Weekend regional title, and then to No. 8 following an ITA Indoors quarterfinals appearance. Texas moved back to No. 11 in the first computer rankings released on February 20 and remained there on February 25, but moved up to No. 9 on March 4. The Longhorns finished 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
Five UT singles players were included in the latest ITA singles rankings that were released on March 4, all of which were in the top-80, including four freshmen. The Longhorns also have two doubles pairs ranked, however both involving Aston Bowers, but the pair of Bowers and Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo has been playing consistently together in dual matches and is ranked No. 29.

Texas

Singles
No. 30 Carmen Herea
No. 38 Sabina Zeynalova
No. 69 Eszter Meri
No. 70 Ashton Bowers
No. 78 Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo

Doubles
No. 29 Ashton Bowers/Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo
No. 41 Sabina Zeynalova/Ashton Bowers

Florida

Singles
No. 50 Rachel Gailis

Doubles
No. 6 Rachel Gailis/Alicia Dudeney

-Meri named SEC Women’s Tennis Athlete of the Week
Eszter Meri was named the SEC Women’s Tennis Athlete of the Week on March 5. It was her second conference award this season, but her first as Athlete of the Week after having previously been Freshman of the Week on January 29. Meri posted a 3-0 combined record with one win in singles and two in doubles in team victories over No. 12 Oklahoma (4-3) and No. 70 Arkansas (4-0). She was also potentially one game away from a second singles win for a 4-0 record before her match versus Arkansas went unfinished. Against Oklahoma, Meri clinched both the overall match and the doubles point against ranked opponents No. 12 Julia Garcia Ruiz at No. 2 singles, and No. 53 Salakthip Ounmuang and Gloriana Nahum at No. 3 doubles. Against Arkansas, Meri and partner Carmen Herea clinched over Katarina Pavlechova and Jimena Gomez Alonso at No. 3

-Another red rivalry win
The Longhorns swept No. 70 Arkansas, 4-0, on March 2 at the Texas Tennis Center. The win completed a sweep of a pair of SEC weekend matches after the Longhorns defeated No. 12 Oklahoma. Texas captured the doubles point with a pair of 6-1 wins at Nos. 2 and 3 and followed with singles wins by Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo at No. 6, Vivan Ovrootsky at No. 3, and Carmen Herea at No. 4.

-SEC Red River Victory
Texas downed No. 12 Oklahoma, 4-3, to secure their first-ever win in Southeastern Conference play on February 28 at the Texas Tennis Center. The Longhorns clinched the match at 4-2 after capturing the doubles point with a pair of decisive 6-2 wins at Nos. 1 and 3 and following with singles victories on three of the top four lines, including freshmen No. 25 Carmen Herea at No. 4, No. 104 Ashton Bowers at No. 1, and No. 124 Eszter Meri at No. 2 for the clinch. The Sooners got within one point at 2-1 with a win at No. 6, at 3-2 with a win at No. 3, and then with their final win at No. 5, however that came after the clinch.

-Just short in the SEC opener
Texas came up just short against No. 6 Texas A&M, 4-3, in the Cotton Holdings Lone Star Showdown on February 22 at the Texas Tennis Center. The match was the Longhorns’ SEC debut and came down to the third set of the final singles match. Texas took the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 1 and then followed with singles victories by Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo and Sabina Zeynalova at No. 1. However, Texas A&M responded with wins at Nos. 2, 5, 3 and 4, including the match at No. 5 that was decided by two 7-5 sets, the match at No. 3 that was determined by two tiebreaker sets, and the match at No. 4 that came down to a break at the end of the third set.

-A Big 12 win before SEC play
Texas earned a 6-1 road win at TCU in the team’s final regular-season non-conference match on February 20 in Fort Worth. The Longhorns took the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 3 and followed with singles victories by Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz at No. 5, Sabina Zeynalova at No. 1, Ashton Bowers at No. 3 for the clinch, Carmen Herea at No. 4, and Salma Drugdova at No. 6.

-ITA Indoors Quarterfinalists
In winning the 2025 ITA Kickoff Weekend Texas Regional, the Longhorns advanced to the ITA National Indoor Championships for the eighth-straight year. With a 4-0 sweep of No. 3 Oklahoma State in the first match there, Texas reached the quarterfinals for the sixth time in those trips, including the last five (2019, 2021-25). Against the Cowgirls, the Longhorns took the doubles point with wins at Nos. 3 and 2, including in a tiebreaker in the deciding match at No. 2. They then followed with singles victories by Salma Drugdova at No. 5, Ashton Bowers at No. 4, and Vivian Ovrootsky at No. 6. Texas then faced No. 2 Texas A&M, and after dropping an extremely close doubles point in a tiebreaker of the deciding match, the Longhorns received singles victories from Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo at No. 6 and Aston Bowers at No. 3. However, the Aggies added singles wins at Nos. 5, 1 and 2 to clinch at 4-2, including three-set decisions at Nos. 1 and 2, while the match at No. 4 was left unfinished heading into a third set. In the consolation match, Texas fell to No. 7 Michigan, 4-1, winning a dramatic doubles point with victories at Nos. 1 and 3 and was in position in both of the unfinished singles matches, but fell in contests at Nos. 2, 5, 3 and 1.

-Back-to-back SEC Freshmen of the Week
Carmen Herea was named the SEC Freshman of the Week, the conference announced Feb. 5. It is her first career conference award, and the second-straight week a Longhorn has earned the honor, following Eszter Meri on Jan. 29. Herea posted both singles and doubles wins in helping Texas to a 4-3 win over No. 19 NC State. Her singles victory came over Kristina Paskauskas at No. 2 and evened the overall score at 3-3 before the Longhorns won, 4-3. She and partner Salma Drugdova had evened the doubles point with a win against Anna Zyryanova and Mia Slama before the Wolf Pack took the deciding doubles match in a tiebreaker. Meri went a combined 3-1 in wins over Maryland and Baylor, including clinching a 4-3 victory over the Bears in a third-set tiebreaker of the final singles match to deliver an ITA Kickoff Weekend regional championship. It also advanced the Longhorns to the ITA National Indoor Championships.

-Quick work of the Wildcats
Texas swept Abilene Christian, 5-0, on Feb. 2 at the Weller Indoor Tennis Center. The Longohrns earned doubles wins at Nos. 2 and 3 and followed with singles victories by Shachf Lieberman at No. 5, Ashton Bowers at No. 3, Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo at No. 4 for the clinch, and Vivian Ovrootsky at No. 6. In the six combined singles and doubles wins, Texas lost a total of just seven games.

-Send them Packing
Texas prevailed, 4-3, over No. 19 NC State on Jan. 31 at the Weller Indoor Tennis Center. For the second time in a week, Longhorns came away with a victory after securing a third-set tiebreaker in the final singles match. After NC State took the doubles point in a tiebreaker of the final match at No. 1, Texas answered with the first two singles wins by Sabina Zeynaolva at No. 1 and Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo at No. 5. The Wolf Pack retook the lead with wins at Nos. 2 and 4, but the Longhorns captured the last two matches, first by Carmen Herea at No. 3, and this time, Vivian Ovrootsky did the honors with the clinch at No. 6.

-Back to the ITA Indoors
Texas won the championship of the ITA Kickoff Weekend Austin Regional with a 4-3 comeback win over Baylor at the Texas Tennis Center on Jan. 25. With the win, the Longhorns advanced to the ITA National Indoor Championships for the eighth-straight year with this year’s tournament taking place from February 7-10 in Evanston and Champaign, Ill. After Baylor won the doubles point and the first singles match at No. 3 for a 2-0 lead, Texas ran off three-straight singles victories by Vivian Ovrootsky at No. 6, Carmen Herea at No. 5 and Sabina Zeynalova at No. 1. The Bears then evened the score with a win at No. 4 before Eszter Meri clinched the victory in a third-set tiebreaker at No. 2. Prior to that, Texas swept Maryland, 4-0, on Jan. 24. The Longhorns took the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 3 and continued with singles victories from a trio of freshmen in Eszter Meri at No. 2, Salma Drugdova at No. 4, and Carmen Herea at No. 5, who clinched the overall match.

-So close in LA
Texas came up just short, 4-3, at No. 17 USC in Los Angeles on January 17 in the 2025 season opener, however they earned three individual wins against top-50 opponents. The ranked wins were led by a top-10 doubles victory for senior Sabina Zeynalova and Ashton Bowers over the No. 7 pair of Grace Piper and Lily Fairclough at No. 1. Meanwhile, Zeynalova also defeated No. 37 Piper at No. 1 singles, and Eszter Meri topped No. 45 Emma Charney at No. 2 singles. The other singles win came from Vivian Ovrootsky at No. 6 singles. Despite the win at No. 1 doubles, USC had taken the doubles point with wins at Nos. 3 and 2, and then collected singles wins at Nos. 5, 3 and 4 to clinch the overall match.

-Horns host Texas Invite
The Longhorns hosted players from San Diego, Tennessee and Wisconsin at the Texas Invite from January 10-12 in Austin. Day one was forced indoors to the Weller Tennis Center due to weather, but the last two days were able to be held at the Texas Tennis Center. Both freshman Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo and junior Vivian Ovrootsky posted 6-0 records over the three days, playing in the maximum number of three singles matches and three doubles matches and winning them all. Freshman Carmen Herea also posted a top-10 victory over No. 10 Elza Tomase of Tennessee on the second day, while Anazagasty-Pursoo downed No. 19 Catherine Aulia, also of Tennessee. In all, Texas posted a combined 16 singles and doubles wins.

-Joffe in Year 10
Head Coach Howard Joffe is in his 10th 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 seven years in the top 11 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 and No. 11 in 2024. The Longhorns also have 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 seven opportunities in the 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 196-50 (.797) mark in his time at Texas. During his 18 seasons as a collegiate head coach, he has tallied a 327-111 (.747) 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 2024
Texas will have a different look from 2024, but at the same time return five familiar faces. Senior Sabina Zeynalova, who has significant experience at the top of the singles lineup is back after being limited much of last season due to injury. Junior Vivian Ovrootsky also returns after compiling a 27-12 singles record last year and a 26-9 doubles mark. Following Zeynalova’s injury, sophomore Shachf Lieberman stepped into the lineup admirably as a true freshman and posted a 7-4 singles record at No. 6, and a 7-5 doubles mark at No. 3. Sophomore Maddy MacNeille, who played in one dual match last season, and redshirt freshman Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz also return.

-Seven newcomers arrive for their first dual match season on the 40
The Longhorns add seven new faces for 2025 with three of those already earning ITA singles rankings following the fall in freshmen No. 28 Carmen Herea from Bucharest, Romania, No. 44 Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo from Westbury, N.Y., and No. 65 Aston Bowers from Alpharetta, Ga. In addition to those, a pair of freshmen from Slovakia in Eszter Meri of Trstena na Ostrove, and Salma Drugdova of Zvolen, are expected to be impact players in the lineup. The Longhorns also added a pair of native Texans in Lucy Schmeil of Austin and Audrey Deatherage of Tyler.

-Fall/Summer Wrap-up
In the first year of the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships being moved to the fall, freshmen Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo and Ashton Bowers both received singles bids. Anazagasty-Pursoo fell to top-30 player Carson Tanguilig of North Carolina in the round of 64, while Bowers was forced to withdraw due to injury. However, prior to that, both reached the singles final of the ITA Texas Regionals with Anazagasty-Pursoo winning the title. Additionally, Vivian Ovrootsky had reached the semifinals to give the Longhorns three out of four in that round, and Ovrootsky won the third-place match. The pairing of Ovrootsky and Bowers also reached the doubles quarterfinals.

-Year eight at the Texas Tennis Center
Texas is in its eighth year at the Texas Tennis Center with a 75-8 (.904) overall record, including a 4-1 record this season. Last year, the Longhorns posted a 10-1 mark with wins over No. 12 Auburn and No. 15 Oklahoma, and the only loss being 4-3 to No. 1 Oklahoma State. Last season, the Longhorns were 11-2, highlighted by a 6-1 win over No. 6 Iowa State. The season before that, the Longhorns posted a 9-1 record with the only losses coming in a 4-3 decision to No. 4 NC State. Texas went undefeated in 2021 with a 13-0 mark, which included a 7-0 sweep over No. 7 Baylor. In a shortened season in 2020, UT recorded a 7-1 record with the only defeat being 4-3 to No. 12 Stanford. The Longhorns finished 2019 at 8-2, with a pair of wins over top-20 foes Florida State and Kansas, while their only defeats were also to top-20 opponents in Pepperdine and Texas A&M. During its inaugural season, Texas registered another undefeated 13-0 season, including winning the 2018 Big 12 Tournament and logging top-15 wins over No. 6 Stanford, No. 12 Oklahoma State and No. 14 Texas Tech.