Tennessee women’s tennis rolled into Austin in need of a bounce-back win, and Catherine Aulia stepped up to help, clinching doubles and singles in a 4-2 Lady Vols victory over Texas.
The No. 18 Lady Vols (9-5, 5-4 SEC) ended their 3-match losing streak Sunday, taking down the No. 7 Longhorns (12-4, 7-2 SEC) with a doubles victory and wins on courts 1, 2 and 4.
The Longhorns’ only previous losses were to Pepperdine, Texas A&M and Oklahoma, all top 10-ranked teams.
Tennessee began the day by picking up the doubles point with wins on courts 2 and 3. After Vanesa Suarez and Francesca Mattioli fell to the Longhorns’ Anastasia Abbagnato and Salma Drugdova 6-2 on Court 1, Katrina Scott and Maeve Thornton evened up the doubles session for the Lady Vols, taking down Carmen Herea and Mathilde Ngijol-Carré, 6-3.
After falling behind early, Catherine Aulia and Leyla Britez Risso brought their match back to 5-5 and went on to defeat Elizabeth Ionescu and Christasha McNeil 7-5 on Court 2 to clinch the doubles point for the Lady Vols.
Texas bounced back from the doubles loss, taking five first sets to singles. But Tennessee would force a third set on three of those five courts.
The Longhorns tied up the dual when Ngijol-Carré took down Audrey Aulia in straight sets, 6-2, 6-0 on court 2.
Scott delivered Tennessee a massive win on Court 1 over Herea, the nation’s No. 1-ranked singles player, winning 7(8)-6(6), 6-2. She was the only Lady Vol to win her first set.
Next off the court was Suarez, who put the Lady Vols up 3-1 with a win over Abbagnato. After struggling to open the match and dropping the first set 6-1, Suarez found new energy in the second frame to tie it up 6-4, then finished it off with a 6-2 win in the third set. It was Suarez’s first singles win since March 8 against Arkansas.
Moments later, Texas would draw closer as Eszter Meri delivered Britez Risso her first loss of the spring on Court 3. The senior had chances to take the first set, but Meri battled and won on a long tiebreak 7(10)-6(8). Britez Risso struggled to regain any momentum and dropped the second set 6-2.
Catherine Aulia covered for her longtime teammate Britez Risso when the Lady Vols needed it most. After dropping the first set 6-1 to McNeil on Court 4, the senior responded with a savvy tiebreak win in set 2, then accelerated to the finish line in the final frame, winning 6-2 and clinching the Lady Vols victory.
Aulia had previously dropped three singles matches in a row and had not won since March 6 against Oklahoma. But on Sunday, she delivered the doubles point with Britez Risso and the decisive singles win.
Mattioli was also in her third frame, tied 5-5 against Ionescu on Court 5.
The Lady Vols grab a much-needed road victory amidst a grueling SEC schedule, moving to 5-4 in conference and 3-2 on the road. They return home for a midweek non-conference matchup against Bellarmine on Wednesday, March 25, at 2 p.m. ET before taking on No. 12 Vanderbilt on Friday.
