Texas Tech University Athletics
Hlahola, Sayfetdinova set for NCAA Doubles Championships
November 12, 2024 | Women's Tennis
LUBBOCK, Texas – For the second-straight season, a doubles tandem of Lady Raiders are heading to the NCAA Doubles Championships, which will be held in Waco, Texas at the Hurd Tennis Center from Nov. 19-24.
Senior Avelina Sayfetdinova and junior Mariia Hlahola will pair up for the championship with the hopes of bringing a national title back to Lubbock. This is Sayfetdinova's second year in a row qualifying for the NCAA Doubles Championships after advancing to the Elite 8 last season with Metka Komac. Their final eight appearance was the furthest any Lady Raider tandem has gone in the NCAA Tournament as the two were named the first Doubles All-Americans in program history.
On Monday afternoon, the NCAA released the 32 doubles teams that will compete in this year's tournament as well as the seeds for the main draw. Beginning in 2024-25, the NCAA Individual Championships were moved from the end of the spring season to the end of the fall season with four ways to qualify for the tournament. The first was to advance to the semifinals of the ITA All-American Championships, the second and third ways were to be a doubles finalist or win the third/fourth playoff match at both the ITA Conference Masters and the ITA Sectional tournaments. The final way to qualify – which is how the Lady Raiders did so – was to win the ITA Texas Regional Championships.
Hlahola, a transfer from Belmont and a Kyiv, Ukraine native, put together an impressive resume with the Bruins, totaling 38 doubles wins in two seasons and setting the Belmont record for most doubles wins in a season with 21. Sayfetdinova has been a dominant force in doubles for the Lady Raiders over the past four seasons. The senior from Moscow, Russia is just seven doubles wins away from cracking the top-10 of the record book in doubles victories. She currently boasts 81 in her career and has received many accolades to highlight her accomplishments as a doubles player, including Unanimous All-Big 12 First Team Doubles and All-American status.
Forming a doubles partnership this fall for the first time, both Hlahola and Sayfetdinova began the season winning every single one of their matches together at the Furman Fall Classic, claiming the flight champion title in the process. The two would take down Kentucky's Ellie Eades and Elizabeth Stevens, 6-4, before beating Alabama's Sara Nayar and Petra Sedlackova, 6-2. The Lady Raiders claimed the title when they defeated NC State's Gabriella Broadfoot and Maddy Zampardo by a 7-6 (5) score.
The Lady Raider tandem was back in action at the ITA Texas Regional tournament in mid-October, hoping to qualify for the NCAA Doubles Championships by winning title… Which is exactly what they did.
In the first round, Hlahola and Sayfetdinova would beat Texas State's Sofia Fortuno and Maria Mesa, 8-1, then added a win over SMU's Sophie Llewellyn and Kayla Schefke, 8-2, in the following round. The Lady Raiders earned a quarterfinals win against Texas' Ashton Bowers and Vivian Ovrootsky, 8-5. Then, they overtook TCU's top-seeded and No. 12-ranked pair of Isabel Pascual and Jade Otway, 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (5), to advance to the finals. There, they secured their spot in the NCAA Doubles Championships with a victory over No. 47-ranked TCU duo of Tomi Main and Yu-Chin Tsai, 6-3, 6-4. This also marked the second-consecutive year a Lady Raider doubles team won the regional title.
As announced by the NCAA on Monday, the Lady Raider pair will be the 3-seed in the NCAA Tournament, behind the 1-seeded UCLA team of Kimmi Hance and Elise Wagle and the 2-seeded NC State team of Broadfoot and Zampardo. The Lady Raiders have already earned wins against the 2-seeds and the 5-8 seeds in Pascual and Otway of TCU. Holding a perfect, 8-0 doubles record together, Hlahola and Sayfetdinova are set to begin play on Nov. 19 in Waco.
