The ninth-seeded Longhorns women topped Texas Tech 4-2 Sunday at the Texas Tennis Center to qualify for the round of 16 for the sixth consecutive year. They will travel to face No. 8 North Carolina State in the Raleigh (N.C.) Super Regional on Friday.
Texas Tech had taken a 1-0 lead in the match by securing the doubles point with wins on the No. 1 and No. 2 lines. But the Longhorns responded with singles victories by sophomores Eszter Meri at No. 3 and Carmen Herea at No. 1, along with freshman Elizabeth Ionescu at No. 4 to establish a 3-1 lead. Freshman Kate Mansfield then clinched the overall match with a dramatic 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 win on the No. 5 line over Havana Kadi that sent her teammates streaming onto her court in celebration.
No. 1 Texas men sweep SMU to reach the Sweet 16
The top-seeded Texas men’s squad advanced to the Sweet 16 with Saturday’s resounding 4-0 win over No. 32 SMU at the Texas Tennis Center, the 12th straight year the Longhorns have reached at least the round of 16.
Texas will play No. 15 San Diego 6 p.m. Friday at the Texas Tennis Center on the UT campus.
Texas secured the doubles point with wins on the Nos. 1 and 2 lines by the teams of Kalin Ivanovski with Abel Forger and Lucas Marionneau with Sebastian Gorzny, respectively.
In singles, Marionneau was first off the court with an efficient 6-4, 6-1 win over Noah McDonald at No. 2 for a 2-0 overall lead. Moments later, Forger extended the lead with an equally efficient 6-2, 6-2 victory over Krish Arora at No. 4. Two matches were then getting close to a finish for the Longhorns, but it was Ivanovski who got home first for the clinching 6-3, 6-2 win over Georgi Georgiev on the No. 2 line.