Losing key seniors such as ITA and All-American winner Malaika Rapolu after the 2023 season made it imperative for Texas women’s tennis head coach Howard Joffe to stock the roster with talented players. With these new faces from a recruiting class that was ranked No. 1 nationally by TennisRecruiting.net, the 2024-25 season looks bright for the Longhorns.
Freshman Maya Joint joins the Forty Acres this season from Grosse Pointe, Michigan, holding a career-high ITF junior ranking of No. 20. This standout player has Grand Slam experience on the WTA level, competing in the qualifiers at this year’s Wimbledon and Australian Open.
At the end of February, Joint partnered up with senior Sabina Zeynalova at the ATX Open, marking their first time playing together. In a podcast interview, Zeynalova said Joint is “composed on the court,” which in Zeynalova’s eyes is uncommon in college tennis, especially as a freshman, establishing Joint as a poised yet forceful player on the court.
“She is very clutch in big moments,” Zeynalova said. “She has good, powerful strokes, and she’s really good at using them.”
Another notable player is freshman Ashton Bowers, a top-12 recruit nationally from Alpharetta, Georgia. From winning four ITF juniors singles titles in her career to reaching both the singles and doubles semifinals of the W35 Petit Bourg in France earlier this year, Bowers proves to be a strong and experienced player that excites Joffe.
“We are very fortunate to sign one of the world’s best junior players in Ashton Bowers,” Joffe said. “Ashton’s inclusion in our program will bolster our ability to contend for titles right away.”
This week, Bowers is competing in the ITA All-Americans Championships, where she played her way into the main draw from the qualifying rounds on Tuesday after coming back from a set down and later breaking a tie with a 5-0 run to the win to advance into the next round.
Carmen Herea is another freshman that looks promising for the Longhorns and is known as one of the top junior players in the world with a ranking of No. 82. Herea travels to Austin from Bucharest, Romania with tons of international experience, playing in the Junior Championships at Wimbledon in 2023 and reaching the singles final of the W15 Heraklion in Greece this past December.
“Carmen’s commitment to an already powerful class is an incredible addition to help the Longhorns be a force for the foreseeable future,” Joffe said.
Herea advanced to the second round of the singles main draw of the ITA All-American Championships on Wednesday, with a 7-6 (2), 6-3 win over No. 73 Eleana Yu of Duke. Winning five straight matches to initially make it to the main draw, Herea shows that she’s a determined and competitive athlete ready to make her Longhorn debut.
Overall, the newcomers are looking to be fresh additions to the women’s tennis roster with professional experience under their belts and early showings of skill to kick off the 2024 season.
