Texas Tech Athletics
Tennessee
Tech travels to Knoxville for ITA Kickoff Weekend
January 23, 2025 | Women's Tennis
LUBBOCK, Texas – The Texas Tech Lady Raiders have a tough week ahead as they face the No. 18 Tennessee Lady Vols on Friday, January 24 at 3 p.m. CT in the opening round of ITA Kickoff Weekend in Knoxville, Tenn. Tech will then face either No. 10 NC State or No. 15 Ohio State in the following round depending on the first-round outcome. The winning team of both matches will qualify for the ITA National Team Indoor Championships on February 7-9.
Texas Tech and Tennessee are meeting for the first time in program history. The Lady Raiders are 1-1 all-time against Ohio State and 1-2 all-time against NC State. The last time the Lady Raiders and Buckeyes played was in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament on May 21, 2017, losing the match 0-4. Tech and NC State faced one another last in 2020 on February 15 as the Lady Raiders lost 2-5.
The Lady Raiders (2-0) opened their season with a couple of sweeps over Xavier (7-0) and Abilene Christian (6-0) last Sunday. Four Lady Raiders went 2-0 in singles last week – Yekaterina Dmitrichenko, Mariia Hlahola, Hailey Murphy and Arina Oreshchenkova.
In doubles, the duo of Hlahola and Avelina Sayfetdinova went a perfect 2-0 to lead the team, highlighted by a ranked doubles win against the No. 17 Xavier pair of Abby Nugent and Clara Owen, 6-3. After going 4-0 on the week with a ranked win, Hlahola was named the Big 12's first Player of the Week this season as it was her first Big 12 weekly honor of her career. Hlahola leads the Lady Raiders with 13 singles wins and 17 doubles victories.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
The No. 18 Tennessee Lady Vols are the host team and No. 1-seed of the regional for ITA Kickoff Weekend. The Lady Vols are 2-0 so far, opening their season with two wins in a doubleheader against Wake Forest, 4-3, and East Carolina, 4-0. Tennessee is led in dual singles by a couple of Lady Vols – Leyla Britez Risso (2-0) and Elza Tomase (2-0). In doubles, two teams are an undefeated 1-0 so far in Catherina Aulia/Britez Risso and Saray Yli-Piipari/Conley Raidt. Four Lady Vols are ranked in singles – Tomase at No. 10, Aulia at No. 19, Vanesa Suarez at No. 54 and Britez Risso at No. 106. In doubles, the team of Tomase and Aulia check in at No. 29.
The No. 15-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes are the 2-seed at the regional, boasting a 2-0 record to begin the season. The Buckeyes got two sweeps to open the year over Cleveland State, 7-0, and Bellarmine, 7-0. In dual singles, there are four Buckeyes who are a perfect 2-0 – Teah Chavez, Nao Nishino, Luciana Perry and Dani Schoenly. In doubles, Ohio State is led by the duo of Nishino and Spencer with a 2-0 record. Perry leads the charge in singles with a No. 8 ranking, followed by Spencer at No. 46 and Ratliff at No. 84.
The No. 10 NC State Wolfpack are the 3-seed at the regional and hold a 2-0 record on the season after getting wins over Campbell, 7-0, and Pepperdine, 5-2. There are four players who lead the team with a perfect, 2-0 dual record so far – Michaela Laki, Gabia Paskauskas, Maddy Zampardo and Anna Zyryanova. In doubles, two pairings are 2-0 in dual matches in Gabriella Broadfoot and Zampardo as well as Laki and Paskauskas. In the singles rankings, Paskauskas checks in at No. 55 while the duos of Zampardo and Broadfoot as well as Kristina Paskauskas and Jasmine Conway check in at No. 5 and No. 60, respectively, in doubles.
IN THE RANKINGS
Singles
No. 8 Luciana Perry (Ohio State)
No. 10 Elza Tomase (Tennessee)
No. 19 Catherine Aulia (Tennessee)
No. 46 Audrey Spencer (Ohio State)
No. 54 Vanesa Suarez (Tennessee)
No. 55 Gabia Paskauskas (NC State)
No. 84 Sydni Ratliff (Ohio State)
No. 106 Leyla Britez Risso (Tennessee)
Doubles
No. 5 Maddy Zampardo/Gabriella Broadfoot (NC State)
No. 15 Mariia Hlahola/Avelina Sayfetdinova (Texas Tech)
No. 29 Elza Tomase/Catherine Aulia (Tennessee)
No. 33 Andreea Lila/Jermine Sherif (Texas Tech)
No. 57 Mariia Hlahola/Hailey Murphy (Texas Tech)
No. 60 Kristina Paskauskas/Jasmine Conway (NC State)
No. 68 Yekaterina Dmitrichenko/Andreea Lila (Texas Tech)
FOLLOW ALONG
Live stats and video will be available for all matches. Follow @TexasTechWTEN on X for updates and scores of the matches.
SCHEDULE
Friday, January 24
Ohio State vs. NC State - 12:00 p.m. CT
Texas Tech vs. Tennessee - 3:00 p.m. CT
Saturday, January 25
Women's Championship - 2:30 p.m. CT
Women's Consolation - 5:00 p.m. CT
Players Mentioned
