Lady Raiders Head to Houston for Three-Match Weekend

LUBBOCK, Texas – The Texas Tech women's tennis team travels to Houston, Texas this weekend for a trio of matches against Rice, Sam Houston State and Houston over the span of Saturday and Sunday.

WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Saturday, Feb. 6
11 a.m. – at Rice
3 p.m. – vs. Sam Houston State (at Rice)

Sunday, Feb. 7
10 a.m. – at Houston

ABOUT THE LADY RAIDERS
Texas Tech is 2-0 following a pair of wins in El Paso last weekend. Led by 2-0 weeks in singles from Lisa Mays and Olivia Peet, and a perfect, 4-0, combined performance in doubles over the first two matches of the season, the Lady Raiders will look to keep rolling as they head into this weekend's matches in Houston. Tech dropped only one match on the entire weekend, as Kaitlin Staines and Nell Miller also grabbed a singles win apiece to add to Mays' and Peet's big weekend.

LADY RAIDERS IN THE ITA RANKINGS
Heading into the weekend, Texas Tech has one ranked singles player and one ranked doubles team in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association Rankings. In doubles, Kaitlin Staines and Nell Miller come in at No. 43. Staines also appears in the singles poll, slotted at No. 100.

EYEING THE OPPONENTS
Rice is 3-2 heading into the weekend after winning their last matchup, 4-0, against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi last weekend. Also earning wins over McNeese State and Louisiana this season, the Owls are 0-2 against Power Five squads and 0-1 against teams from the Big 12, as they have dropped sweeps to No. 23 Baylor and LSU this season as well. Maria Budin leads the Owls in singles wins with seven, and Victoria Smirnova has started most matches at the No. 1 spot this season. Budin and Diae El Jardi figure to start at the No. 1 doubles position, going 3-1 in duals so far this season.

Sam Houston State heads into this weekend's matches with a 4-2 record. After opening the dual season with four-straight wins over Prairie View (twice) and Tarleton (twice), the Bearkats have dropped two-straight matches at TCU and North Texas. Sahaja Yamalapalli is 5-0 in as many starts at the No. 1 singles spot. The Bearkats have started three different doubles teams at the No. 1 position, led by Yamalapalli and Isidora Zivkovic, who are 2-1 so far this season.

The Houston Cougars enter this weekend's matches at 4-1, coming off three-straight wins at Incarnate Word, UTSA and Texas State last month. Their lone loss of the season was a 7-0 loss at Texas A&M on Jan. 18. The Cougars are led by Mimi Kendall-Woseley, who started a majority of matches last season at the No. 1 singles line and racked up a team-leading 10 wins.

LAST TIME OUT
The Lady Raiders are coming off a 2-0 start to the dual season with wins over Arizona and UTEP in El Paso last weekend. Tech knocked off the Wildcats, 4-1, to open their Sunday doubleheader, then swept the Miners, 4-0, in the weekend finale.

Texas Tech 4, Arizona 1
Jan. 31, 2021 | El Paso Tennis Club | El Paso, Texas

Doubles
No. 1: No. 43 Kaitlin Staines/Nell Miller (TTU) vs. Jelena Lukic/Talya Zandberg (UA) 5-3, unf.
No. 2: Lisa Mays/Margarita Skriabina (TTU) def. Gitte Heynemans/Khim Iglupas (UA) 6-3
No. 3: Olivia Peet/Camryn Stepp (TTU) def. Abby Amos/Kayla Wilkins (UA) 6-4

Singles
No. 1: Lisa Mays (TTU) def. Kayla Wilkins (UA) 6-3, 6-1
No. 2: No. 100 Kaitlin Staines (TTU) def. Jelena Lukic (UA) 6-1, 6-0
No. 3: Nell Miller (TTU) vs. Talya Zandberg (UA) unf.
No. 4: Margarita Skriabina (TTU) vs. Abby Amos (UA) unf.
No. 5: Olivia Peet (TTU) def. Khim Iglupas (UA) 2-6, 6-2, 6-3
No. 6: Gitte Heynemans (UA) def. Camryn Stepp (TTU) 6-4, 6-3

Texas Tech 4, UTEP 0
Jan. 31, 2021 | El Paso Tennis Club | El Paso, Texas

Doubles
No. 1: Kaitlin Staines/Lisa Mays (TTU) def. Kathleen Percegona/Thassane Abrahim (UTEP) 6-1
No. 2: Nell Miller/Margarita Skriabina (TTU) def. Lina Sachica/Veronika Lebisova (UTEP) 6-3
No. 3: Olivia Peet/Camryn Stepp (TTU) vs. Eve Daniels/Lyric Bonilla (UTEP) unf.

Singles
No. 1: Lisa Mays (TTU) def. Lina Sachica (UTEP) 6-1, 6-1
No. 2: No. 100 Kaitlin Staines (TTU) vs. Thassane Abrahim (UTEP) unf.
No. 3: Margarita Skriabina (TTU) vs. Veronika Lebisova (UTEP) unf.
No. 4: Nell Miller (TTU) vs. Eve Daniels (UTEP) 6-0, 6-2
No. 5: Olivia Peet (TTU) def. Lyric Bonilla (UTEP) 6-2, 6-1
No. 6: Camryn Stepp (TTU) vs. Elena Dibattista (UTEP) unf.

Lady Raiders Head to Houston for Three-Match Weekend

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Players Mentioned

Lisa Mays

Nell Miller

Olivia Peet

Margarita Skriabina

Kaitlin Staines

Camryn Stepp