No. 8 Texas women’s tennis defeated Brigham Young University 6-1 in a strong showing at home on Saturday, sweetening their Senior Day where four players were honored.
The Longhorns entered the match 9–1 in Big 12 play against the 6–4 Cougars and left the courts with another point added to their record.
Texas clinched the doubles point confidently, mostly off the back of the seniors.
Graduate Taisiya Pachkaleva and freshman Shachf Lieberman controlled their court and took down Cougar sophomore Tina Li and senior Kara Wheatley 6-1. Senior Charlotte Chavatipon and redshirt sophomore Vivian Ovrootsky defeated BYU senior Emilee Astle and junior Madison Smith 6-3 to give the Longhorns the doubles point.
Texas kept rolling, and singles play went back and forth against a BYU team that wouldn’t give up.
Although Tanya Sasnouskaya’s doubles match against junior Yujia Huang and senior Kaavya Sawhney stopped mid-play, she found her win in singles. Sasnouskaya’s confident serves and strong returns tore through Sawhney in the first set, putting her on top 6-0. She worked through a closer second set, finishing 6-3, to give the Longhorns their second point.
“The actual season starts in January and goes through May — it’s five months,” said head coach Howard Joffe about Sasnouskaya. “There are a lot of peaks and valleys. And I think she’s just starting to hit a little bit of a peak.”
Pachkaleva and Wheatley battled it out 6-4 in the first set but ultimately Pachkaleva added another point to the Longhorn tally after a 6-2 takedown in the last set.
Malaika Rapolu initially struggled against Huang, who sent her running up and down the court with well-placed returns, but Rapolu clawed her way back, forcing Huang into a tiebreaker which gave Rapolu a 7-6 win in the first set.
“I just started building on that next couple of games and soon I was right there about to win that set,” Rapolu said. “It turned out to be a dogfight in the end of it.”
Huang’s game began to crack, and Rapolu eventually took the last set 6-2.
Texas racked up two more points, with Ovrootsky and Chavatipon defeating their opponents. The only BYU point came from Smith against Lieberman in a tiebreak.
After the match, the team and coaches celebrated Sasnouskaya, Pachkaleva, Chavatipon and Rapolu in the Senior Day ceremony. The four players received framed pictures and heartfelt speeches from Joffe and assistant coach Justin Butsch.
“As a college coach, you’re charged with trying to win games, but you’re also charged with seeing them grow and develop,” Joffe said after the ceremony. “So it’s bittersweet, but it’s all good stuff.”
Texas heads to Fort Worth on Friday to face No. 62 TCU and then takes on No. 35 Baylor in Waco on April 14 to complete their regular season games before the Big 12 Championships the following week.
