The No. 21 Longhorns (9–6,3–2) rolled into Morgantown, West Virginia Friday coming off a dominant shutout win over TCU in their last outing. Texas would look to replicate its success against the Horned Frogs in its first match of a long road trip against a struggling West Virginia (4–10, 0–4) squad.
From the very first serve of the match Texas had the Mountaineers on their heels with no apparent answer.
Texas earned victories at the second and third doubles position thanks to the pairs of sophomore Daniella Roldan and junior Dani Wagland, and senior Neda Koprcina and freshman Anna Turati to give Texas the early one point lead.
Roldan and Wagland especially showed some grit in the doubles competition with their commanding shutout victory over West Virginia’s Kirsten White and Sofia Duran with a count of 6-0.
Koprcina and Turati ultimately locked down the doubles point with a 6-3 victory against the Mountaineer pair of Paula Goetz and Lyn Yuen Choo.
Texas stayed hot in singles play with yet another dominant display by its three ranked players, who have all been showing some determination and toughness in their last few matches.
Texas’ first singles victory came from the racket of 84th-ranked freshman Petra Granic who defeated West Virginia’s Christina Jordan by a count of 6-1, 6-3 to pull the lead to 2-0.
The Longhorns later sealed their 4-0 victory against the Mountaineers with victories from 37th-ranked freshman Bianca Turati and 99th-ranked senior Neda Koprcina with respective counts of 6-2,7-5 and 7-6, 6-2.
This was a must win match for the Longhorns with great implications toward their conference standing. The match win marked back-to-back shutout victories for the Longhorns and finally pulled their conference record above .500 for the first time this season.
“I definitely give a ton of credit to West Virginia for a vastly improved team and set of competitors,” said head coach Howard Joffe. “Today was extremely challenging, and I am encouraged to see our ladies starting to compete better as they get more experience.”
Texas’ next matchup of its long weekend road trip will be Sunday in Ames, Iowa against Iowa State with the first serve at 10 a.m.
