No. 1 Texas takes control of ITA Kick-Off weekend matches, headed to indoor national championships

Aakriti Singla and Juan Ferro

After securing a 3–0 season start last weekend, No. 1 Texas women’s tennis continued to fight in the ITA Kick-Off weekend games. Texas played Fresno State on Friday and Baylor on Saturday, sweeping both matches 4–0, advancing the Longhorns to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships. 

Friday’s match against Fresno State was a success for Texas, dominating in doubles and singles, collecting all the points in their 4–0 sweep victory. 

Junior Charlotte Chavatipon and sophomore Sabina Zeynalova started off the scoring with a 6–1 doubles win over Pang Jittakoat and Meshkatolzahra Safi. Texas then won the double’s point with a 6–1 win by junior Taisiya Pachkaleva and freshman Nicole Rivkin over Matilde Magrini and Mariya Vyshkina, giving Texas a 1–0 lead. 


In an intense exchange of singles matches, junior No. 85 Malaika Rapolu increased Texas’ lead after only letting go of one game in her dominant 6–1, 6–0 win over Cristina Flaquer. 

Chavatipon stayed dominant throughout the first set and brought one more point to the Texas scoreboard with a 6–0, 6–3 win over Safi.

Graduate student No. 87 Marlee Zein sealed the victory with a 6–0, 6–3 win over Vyshkina to close it out for Texas in a dominant fashion.

After a delayed start to Saturday’s game against Baylor due to weather conditions, the Longhorns looked to keep up their early leads in doubles. 

With Baylor winning the first set 6–4, Zeynalova and Zein faced off against Danielle Tuhten and Isabella Harvison. In a tiebreaker win, the Longhorns won the second set 7–6. 

After another thrilling tiebreaker, Rivkin and Pachkaleva secured the doubles point after a 7–6 win against Anita Sahdiieva and Alina Shcherbinina, giving Texas a 1–0 lead. 

In singles, Rapolu took an early lead against Paula Barañano, winning the match 6–0, 6–0 to give Texas a 2–0 lead. 

Pachkaleva and Rivkin followed in Rapolu’s lead, winning their respective matches 6–1, 6–2 and 6–1, 6–1 to give Texas their second 4–0 sweep of the weekend. 

The Longhorns will now head to their sixth consecutive ITA National Team Indoor Championship in Seattle starting on Feb. 10.