Texas Tech Athletics
UCSB
Lady Raiders record top-25 win against UCSB
February 15, 2025 | Women's Tennis
TUCSON, Ariz. – Once again going down to the wire against a ranked opponent, the tougher team stood tall after the No. 23 Texas Tech Lady Raiders got a 4-3 win over the No. 23 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos on Saturday afternoon at the LaNelle Robson Tennis Center.
No. 23 Texas Tech (6-1) won what would be an important doubles point against No. 24 UCSB (2-5) to open the match. First at court three, the No. 83-ranked duo of Andreea Lila and Jermine Sherif defeated Raphaelle Leroux and Lucy Lu by a decisive, 6-1 score. Clinching the point was Yekaterina Dmitrichenko and Hailey Murphy at court two over Ali Benedetto and Emma Tutoveanu. Both teams went back-and-forth until UCSB went ahead 4-3 by breaking Tech's serve. However, the Lady Raiders fought back, claiming the next three games to win the match, 6-4, to give Tech a 1-0 lead over the Gauchos. At court one, No. 6-ranked Avelina Sayfetdinova and Mariia Hlahola were up on the No. 17-ranked pair of Amelia Honer and Anna Weissheim, 5-4, when their match went unfinished.
The Gauchos got things going in singles, taking a 2-1 lead over Tech with wins at courts one and two. However, the Lady Raiders would claim the next two matches for a 3-2 advantage. At court three, Dmitrichenko picked up a straight-set victory against Tyra Richardson. In set one, Dmitrichenko went out to an early 2-0 lead before the Gaucho tied it at 3-all. The two traded games until the Lady Raider won by breaking serve, 6-4. In the next set, both players held serve to tie it at 5-5. Then, Dmitrichenko held and broke serve to claim the match, 7-5.
One court over on line four, Lila took down Benedetto in straight sets. Lila and Benedetto went back-and-forth the entire first set, tying at 5-5. Lila took a 6-5 lead after saving three break points, then won the set 7-5 on the break. The Lady Raider was down 3-4 in the second set, but won three-consecutive games for the 6-4 victory. Once again, the Gauchos fought back, winning their singles match in three sets at court six to tie it at 3-3.
All eyes were then on court five where the deciding match was going to be as Murphy and Tutoveanu were battling it out in a three-hour thriller. In the first set, Murphy was able to lead 2-0 before Tutoveanu won three-straight games for a 3-2 advantage. However, Murphy clawed back, winning five of the next seven games for the 7-5 score. Tutoveanu took a 5-2 lead in the following set until Murphy forced a tiebreaker at 6-all. Murphy and Tutoveanu traded points until the Gaucho won it, 7-6 (8). In the final set to decide the outcome of the match, Murphy put her foot on the gas, jumping out to a 5-1 lead. Tutoveanu would respond by winning the next two games, but the Lady Raider broke serve to come out with the 6-3 win and clinch the top-25 victory for Tech.
Up next, Texas Tech heads faces host team Arizona for a nonconference match on Sunday, February 16 at 11 a.m. CT. Â
RESULTS
#23 Texas Tech 4, #24 UC Santa Barbara 3
Singles
1. #14 Amelia Honer (UCSB-W) def. Avelina Sayfetdinova (TTU) 6-4, 6-0
2. #74 Anna Weissheim (UCSB-W) def. #95 Mariia Hlahola (TTU) 6-2, 6-3
3. Yekaterina Dmitrichenko (TTU) def. Tyra Richardson (UCSB-W) 6-4, 7-5
4. Andreea Lila (TTU) def. Ali Benedetto (UCSB-W) 7-5, 6-4
5. #118 Hailey Murphy (TTU) def. Emma Tutoveanu (UCSB-W) 7-5, 6-7 (8-10), 6-3
6. Raphaelle Leroux (UCSB-W) def. Arina Oreshchenkova (TTU) 6-0, 3-6, 6-1
Doubles
1. #17 Amelia Honer/Anna Weissheim (UCSB-W) vs. #6 Mariia Hlahola/Avelina Sayfetdinova (TTU) 4-5, unfinished
2. Yekaterina Dmitrichenko/Hailey Murphy (TTU) def. Ali Benedetto/Emma Tutoveanu (UCSB-W) 6-4
3. #83 Andreea Lila/Jermine Sherif (TTU) def. Raphaelle Leroux/Lucy Lu (UCSB-W) 6-1
Order of finish
Doubles (3, 2); Singles (2, 1, 3, 4, 6, 5)
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
3,2
#1 Singles Match
#2 Singles Match
#3 Singles Match
#4 Singles Match
#5 Singles Match
#6 Singles Match
Order of Finish:
2,1,3,4,6,5
Players Mentioned
