Texas Tech University Athletics
Texas Tech Athletics
Yale
Tech set for NCAA First Round against Yale
May 01, 2026 | Women's Tennis
LUBBOCK, Texas – For the 14th-consecutive year, the No. 28-ranked Texas Tech women's tennis team is heading to the NCAA Tournament after being selected at a 2-seed in the Austin Regional. Tech is set to face 3-seeded and No. 36-ranked Yale at 10 a.m. on Saturday at the Texas Tennis Center. The winner in this match will play the winner between 1-seeded and No. 9-ranked Texas and Tarleton on Sunday at 12 p.m. in the second round. Fans get free admission into all matches in the Austin Regional.
Texas Tech holds a 3-0 record over Yale in school history, last beating the Bulldogs by a 4-0 score in 2023. The Lady Raiders (18-10) are coming off a semifinal appearance at the Big 12 Tournament two weeks ago, becoming the highest seed to ever make the Big 12 Tournament semifinals. Tech earned wins over both Houston and No. 11 Arizona State before falling to eventual champion, TCU, in the semifinals.
The Lady Raiders are led in dual singles wins by Hailey Murphy with a 14-6 record, 12 of those coming at the top of the lineup. Second on the team in dual singles victories is Yekaterina Dmitrichenko with 11 wins and nine of those coming at court two. In dual doubles, Murphy and Dmitrichenko are leading the Lady Raiders with a 22-3 record, all at court one doubles.
Recently, Murphy was named to the All-Big 12 First Team Singles, while Dmitrichenko made the All-Big 12 Second Team Singles. The Murphy/Dmitrichenko duo earned All-Big 12 Frist Team Doubles honors and the Mariia Hlahola/Elena Daskalova pair were named to the All-Big 12 Second Team Doubles.
Scouting the Opponents
The Yale Bulldogs come into the match with a 19-3 overall record and a 6-1 Ivy League record to tie for first in the conference. The Bulldogs have key wins over Memphis, Purdue, Florida Atlantic and Boston University. Their three losses were against Stanford, Penn State and Columbia. Yale secured a bid into the NCAA Tournament after earning a share of their conference title, their first since 2013. The Bulldogs' 19 wins marked their highest total since the 2011-12 season, while the team went undefeated at home. The team is led by head coach Rachel Sapir-Kahan and her staff, who were named the Ivy League Coaching Staff of the Year. In addition, Leena Friedman was named the Rookie of the Year, while Orly Ogilvy, Shyla Aggarwal and Friedman each collected All-Ivy accolades.
The No. 9 Texas Longhorns are 17-7 overall and went 11-4 in the SEC. Texas has key wins over Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Duke and Vanderbilt. The Longhorns have lost to Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Auburn and Georgia. Texas is led in dual singles by No. 104 Elizabeth Ionescu with a 16-4 record with six wins coming at courts four and five. Next is No. 3 Carmen Herea with a 14-5 record, all at the top of the lineup, followed by No. 6 Anastasia Abbagnato with a 13-6 record and 11 of those wins coming at court two. No. 57 Eszter Meri is 11-5 in dual singles, with seven wins coming at court three. The No. 48 pairing of Ionescu and Christasha McNeil lead the team with five dual doubles wins, all at court two. The Longhorns are set to play 4-seeded Tarleton on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the First Round.
Tarleton is 17-7 overall and earned an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament after winning its first ever WAC Tournament title with victories over Abilene Christian and UT Arlington. Multiple Texans earned conference honors as Maria Castano was named WAC Player of the Year, Aya Ishii earned the conference's Freshman of the Year and Elianne Douglas-Miron was named the WAC Coach of the Year. Castano and Ishii earned spots on the All-WAC First Team with Emma Persson, Ximena Morales and Marissa Minetti. Ishii and Minetti were named All-WAC First Team in doubles while Persson and Morales earned All-WAC Second Team honors in doubles. Ishii leads the team with an 18-3 dual singles record, followed by Morales wit a 17-3 record. The duos of Minetti/Ishii and Morales/Persson lead the team with 13 dual doubles wins each.
In the ITA Rankings
Team
No. 9 Texas
No. 28 Texas Tech
No. 36 Yale
Singles
No. 3 Carmen Andreea Herea (Texas)
No. 6 Anastasia Abbagnato (Texas)
No. 57 Eszter Meri (Texas)
No. 104 Elizabeth Ionescu (Texas)
Doubles
No. 28 Salma Drugdova/Anastasia Abbagnato (Texas)
No. 48 Elizabeth Ionescu/Christasha McNeil (Texas)
No. 62 Anastasia Abbagnato/Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo (Texas)
No. 71 Anastasia Abbagnato/Elizabeth Ionescu (Texas)
Follow Along
Live stats and video will be available for the matches. Fans can also follow along with live updates from the Texas Tech Women's Tennis X account.
Players Mentioned
