No. 14 Texas women’s tennis opened home Southeastern Conference play in dominant fashion, sweeping No. 31 Alabama 4-0 on Thursday and dominating No. 33 Mississippi State 4-1 on Saturday.
Texas opened doubles play against Alabama with a 6-0 shutout from Texas freshmen Elizabeth Ionescu and Christasha McNeil against Alabama seniors Klara Milicevic and Maria Andrienko. Texas sophomores Carmen Herea and Salma Drugdova followed with a 6-1 win against Alabama freshmen Addison Bowman and Amina Salibayeva to secure the doubles point and give Texas a 1-0 team lead.
The Longhorns continued to roll past the Crimson Tide in singles play, beginning with a dominant 6-2, 6-0 win from Ionescu over Bowman. Texas sophomore Eszter Meri followed with her own decisive 6-2, 6-1 victory against Andrienko, before Texas freshman Mathilde Ngijol-Carré provided the clinch with a 7-5, 6-0 win over Salibayeva. With the team victory already secured, the remaining matches were left unfinished.
Texas looked to build on its dominant performance against Alabama when it returned to the courts Saturday to take on Mississippi State, but faced a tougher start as the Bulldogs claimed the early momentum.
Ionescu and McNeil, the No. 50 doubles team in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings, were upset 6-4 by Mississippi State junior Athina Pitta and sophomore Gianna Oboniye to open up doubles play. Texas freshman Anastasia Abbagnato and Ngijol-Carré fell 6-3 to the No. 71 doubles team in the ITA rankings, Mississippi State sophomore Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz and junior Chiara Di Genova, giving the Bulldogs the doubles point.
The Longhorns responded in singles play, winning four straight matches beginning with Herea, the No. 1 singles player in the ITA rankings, who downed Oboniye 6-2, 2-6, 6-1. McNeil was off the court next after a 6-4, 6-3 win over Di Genova. Abbagnato, the No. 16 singles player in the ITA rankings, extended the lead with a 7-6(7), 6-1 victory against Kempenaers-Pocz to bring Texas within one point of clinching the team win.
The deciding win came from Ionescu, who defeated Mississippi State sophomore Carolina Troiano 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, to secure the team win for the Longhorns.
Following the two wins, Texas improved to 9-3 overall and 4-1 in SEC play. The Longhorns will look to extend their streak of ranked conference wins at home when they return to the Texas Tennis Center to face No. 11 South Carolina on Thursday at 2 p.m.