No. 5 Texas women’s tennis fell to No. 64 Stanford 5-2 on Friday in Palo Alto, California. 

Coming off a hard-nosed battle with NC State last Sunday, in addition to a tough loss to Oklahoma in the ITA National Team Indoor Championship the weekend before, the Longhorns have been seeking to reignite their fire as their ranking fell from No. 3 to No. 5. However, the team was again unable to find its momentum today in the Bay Area and could not navigate out of its two-week slump. 

Doubles matches began at 2 p.m. with freshman Vivian Ovrootsky and sophomore Charlotte Chavatipon dishing out a 6-1 win against Stanford’s Ana Geller and Niluka Madurawe. 

Shortly after, sophomore Peyton Stearns and freshman Bella Zamarripa brought the same heat on court 2 in a 6-2 win over Stanford’s Valencia Xu and Alexandra Yepifanova. This solidified Texas’ win in the doubles matches, and the Longhorns went into singles play up 1-0 against the Cardinal.

The final doubles match which featured the Texas duo of sophomore Kylie Collins and freshman Sabina Zeynalova against Angelica Blake and Connie Ma ended prematurely. 

Sophomore Malaika Rapolu played against Stanford’s Sara Choy on court 6. Rapolu trailed for most of the match, eventually coming up short to her opponent in a 6-2, 6-0 defeat. Stanford gained its first point of the match to tie Texas 1-1. 

On court 4, Zeynalova fought at the net with India Houghton and was the first to claim a singles win, 6-3, 6-4. Especially after a strong performance against NC state last week, this Texas freshman continued to lead the way for her teammates. Texas was now up 2-1. 

Chavatipon battled against Stanford’s Angelica Blake on court 3. After losing the first set 6-1, Chavatipon impressed in a second set win 6-4, but was unable to come out on top with a 6-4 loss in the third set. Stanford, once again, tied Texas, now 2-2. 

On court 5, Ovrootsky challenged No. 65 Valencia Xu. After a 6-4 loss in the first set, Ovrootsky regained her composure with a 6-2 win in the second set. However, Ovrootsky fell 6-2 in the third set. Xu brought Stanford to a 3-2 lead against Texas.

On court 2, No. 40 Collins went head-to-head with No. 17 Alexandra Yepifanova. Collins shut down her adversary in the first set with a 6-2 win, yet lost the next two sets, 7-6, 6-4. Yepifanova and the Cardinal now held a 4-2 lead, cementing their win. 

No. 4 Stearns took on No. 18 Connie Ma as the two nationally ranked players created a spectacle on court 1. After Stearns lost the first set 7-6, she managed to clinch a 6-2 win in the second set, but ultimately came up short in the third set, losing it 6-2. Ma brought the Cardinals another point.

Stanford defended its home court in a 5-2 victory against Texas. 

Texas women’s tennis will look to recuperate in a face-off against California this Sunday at 2 p.m.