Since arriving on campus in 2022 as true freshmen, Leyla Britez Risso and Catherine Aulia have been staple pieces of the Lady Vols women’s tennis team tradition.
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As the 2026 season gets underway, Aulia and Britez Risso welcome fellow senior Vanesa Suarez. Suarez joined as a junior transfer from Kansas State last season, rounding out this accomplished senior trio.
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Together, these three seniors led the team from the top three singles courts. This lineup took on the No. 9 Lady Vols’ conference-opening match against Kentucky at home. The Lady Vols faced little resistance, defeating the Wildcats 4-0 in a clean sweep on Saturday afternoon.
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“On the court, they’ve done an outstanding job of just continuing to, every single day, get better,” Tennessee head coach Alison Ojeda said. “And so you see that on the tennis court, so not only are they getting better, but they’re doing it in a way where they’re literally coming out against opponents who are really good, and raising their level of performance.”
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As always, doubles play kicked the game off where seniors Britez Risso and Aulia manned Court 1. The two are ranked No. 21 in the nation in doubles rankings, and for good reason.
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While the two were the only Lady Vols’ (5-1, 1-0 SEC) doubles pair to not finish their game at Court 1, Court 2 and Court 3 were all claimed over the Wildcats (8-2, 0-1 SEC), giving Tennessee the early 1-0 lead.
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It’s as clear as day while the team plays on the court that there’s a bond that can’t be touched from the Lady Vols. After each point won or lost, one of the players shouts support to their teammates. Whoever is not on the court is still locked in on the court, voicing support for their teammates.
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“They’re away from their families,” Ojeda said. “You got Cat in from Australia, you got Leyla from Paraguay, and Vanessa from Venezuela, so this is their family. And so how they treat others and how we all treat them, it’s just that overall idea of respect for one another.”
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It’s a culture that Ojeda has spent her time as head coach working towards, but it’s clear that there’s not much she needs to work on whenever her senior class leads with as much intent as hers does.
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Despite joining the team as a junior, one would think that Suarez had spent all her time with Ojeda and the Lady Vols based on her demeanor with the team. Manning Court 1 in singles, Suarez faced off against Julia Zhu, who is ranked No. 119 in the ITA singles rankings.
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Suarez held Zhu off the board, despite the game not finishing with a result. Suarez won a tough first set, scoring 7-6 while winning the advantage round.
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Aulia was the first during singles to claim a point. She did so rather quickly over Reese Sager, scoring 6-3 and 6-0.
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After Aulia’s court three won to put the Lady Vols up two, sophomore Saray Yli-Piipari handled court five with a 6-2 win during both sets, giving the Lady Vols the three-point lead.
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None other than Britez Risso closed things out at Court 2, defeating Zoe Hammond, who is ranked No. 94 in ITA’s singles rankings, scoring 6-0 and 6-3.
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While the camaraderie of the team can’t be put into statistical numbers, it’s clear that it bleeds into the result. These girls have been playing with each other for years, and now, at the climax, it’s time to put everything together.
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“It all comes from practice,” Britez Risso said. “We’ve been practicing really well, with the intent of what we want to do on match day. Also, confidence is a huge thing too, when we come out here, we just want to win, we want to play every point the best we can.”