Texas Tech Athletics
Denver
Lady Raiders take on Denver in NCAA First Round
May 01, 2024 | Women's Tennis
LUBBOCK, Texas – The No. 25-ranked Texas Tech Lady Raiders (19-8) are heading to California for the UCLA Regional to begin the NCAA Tournament. As the 2-seed, Tech will take on the 3-seeded and No. 54-ranked Denver on Friday, May 3 at 10 AM PT/12 PM CT in the first round of the tournament.
If the Lady Raiders win, they face the winner between 1-seeded and No. 8-ranked UCLA and 4-seeded and No. 62-ranked San Diego State in the second round on Saturday, May 4 at 12 PM PT/2 PM CT.
This is Texas Tech's 12th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, making its 12th-consecutive appearance dating back to 2012. In addition, the Lady Raiders have made the second round in two of the past three seasons.
Texas Tech is coming off a semifinals berth at the Big 12 Championships after defeating both Cincinnati and BYU. In the semifinals, Tech took on No. 1-ranked and undefeated Oklahoma State and took the Cowgirls to the wire. The Lady Raiders would force five third sets and three tiebreakers in singles before Oklahoma State won the match.
The Lady Raiders are led in singles by Andreea Lila and No. 51 Cristina Tiglea, who total 20 and 19 overall wins apiece. In dual singles, there are three Lady Raiders with 13 wins each – Tiglea, Avelina Sayfetdinova and Metka Komac.
In doubles, the duos of Sayfetdinova and Komac as well as Mariya Polishchuk and Tiglea lead Tech in wins. The Komac/Sayfetdinova pairing are ranked No. 6 and lead the team with 27 overall wins and 19 dual victories. Polishchuk and Tiglea are just behind with 24 overall wins and 18 dual doubles victories.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Tech's opponent in the first round is the No. 54 Denver Pioneers. DU has an overall record of 17-6 and a perfect 6-0 record in the Summit League. Denver has key wins against Tulsa (4-3), Minnesota (4-3) and Kansas State (4-2). Some losses were against Wichita State (1-4), Charlotte (3-4) and SMU (0-4). The Pioneers are coming into the match after winning their 10th-consecutive Summit League titles, and in doing so, giving them their 10th-straight NCAA Tournament appearance. Denver has six players who total 10 or more dual singles wins and are led by Carolina Driscoll with 18 dual singles victories. In doubles, the duo of Driscoll and Louise Wikander lead the Pioneers with 15 dual doubles wins followed by the pairing of Andrea Beltran and Britt Pursell with 12. Texas Tech leads the all-time series against Denver, 5-2, with their last meeting coming on March 26, 2022 in a 4-0 sweep for the Lady Raiders.
UCLA is ranked No. 8 nationally and is the host of the regional. The Bruins are 18-5 overall and 9-1 in the Pac-12 conference, winning the regular season title in the process. The Bruins also made the Pac-12 Tournament final this season, dropping the finals match, 2-4, to 4-seeded Cal. Some of UCLA's key wins were against USC (4-2), Pepperdine (4-3), Stanford (4-3) and Texas (5-2). Their four remaining losses were versus Cal (3-4), Ohio State (0-4), Duke (0-4) and Oklahoma State (3-4). The Bruins have three players ranked in singles – Kimmi Hance (No. 25), Fangran Tian (No. 35) and Bianca Jolie Fernandez (No. 65). Tian leads the Bruins with 15 dual singles wins, all at court one, followed by Fernandez with 12 and Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer with 11. In doubles, two Bruins teams are ranked –Tian and Elise Wagle (No. 14) and Hance and Lutkemeyer (No. 50). Tian and Wagle are 8-3 at court one while Hance and Lutkemeyer are 12-1 in dual doubles. UCLA leads the all-time series against the Lady Raiders, 3-1, including getting a victory in the NCAA First Round against Texas Tech last season, 4-1.
No. 62 San Diego State is coming into the match as the 3-seed and boast a 16-6 overall record and a 7-2 record in the Mountain West. The Aztecs have won nine of their last 10 matches, including claiming the Mountain West tournament title after beating UNLV (4-2), Colorado State (4-2) and Utah State (4-0). Their last three losses came against UNLV (3-4), Boise State (3-4) and No. 14 San Diego (2-5). San Diego State leads the all-time series against Tech, 1-0, with the two teams' last and only match coming on February 5, 2005 as SDSU won it, 4-3. The Aztecs are led by the Mountain West Player of the Year in No. 97 Yasmine Kabbaj who is 15-2 in dual singles as well as No. 98 Andjela Skrobonja who boasts a 17-3 record. In doubles, Skrobonja and Andreea Velcea lead with a 13-1 record, all at court two.
OPPONENTS IN THE RANKINGS
Singles
No. 25 Kimmi Hance (UCLA)
No. 35 Fangran Tian (UCLA)
No. 65 Bianca Jolie Fernandez (UCLA)
No. 97 Yasmine Kabbaj (SDSU)
No. 98 Andjela Skrobonja (SDSU)
Doubles
No. 14 Fangran Tian/Elise Wagle (UCLA)
No. 50 Kimmi Hance/Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer (UCLA)
FOLLOW ALONG
Live stats and video can be found here. Follow @TexasTechWTEN on X for updates and scores of the matches.
Players Mentioned
