College Tennis News - Longhorn Preview: Oklahoma, Oklahoma State

WHAT: No. 39 Texas (4-7) returns home for its first Big 12 Conference matches of the season. The Longhorns kick off their nine-match homestand against No. 28 Oklahoma and No. 26 Oklahoma State.

WHEN/WHERE:
No. 28 Oklahoma at No. 39 Texas
Friday, March 15 - 2 p.m. Central
Penick-Allison Tennis Center - Austin, Texas

No. 26 Oklahoma State at No. 39 Texas
Sunday, March 17 - Noon Central
Penick-Allison Tennis Center - Austin, Texas

TELEVISION: Longhorn Network will offer a live telecast. Steve Weissman (play-by-play) and Jon Wiegand (color analyst) will have the call.

LIVE SCORING: Available at TexasSports.com

LAST MEETINGS OKLAHOMA & OKLAHOMA STATE: Five days after falling to Oklahoma State in the regular-season finale, Texas defeated Oklahoma State by a 4-1 count in the quarterfinals of the 2012 Big 12 Championship in College Station. UT went on to defeat Texas Tech and Texas A&M to win the Big 12 crown. Texas dealt Oklahoma a 5-2 defeat on April 21 in Norman, Okla.

Texas is 28-1 all-time against Oklahoma and 28-4 against Oklahoma State.

I.T.A. SINGLES RANKINGS (TEXAS PLAYERS, AS OF MARCH 12)
42. Aeriel Ellis
52. Breaunna Addison

I.T.A. DOUBLES RANKINGS (TEXAS PLAYERS, AS OF MARCH 12)
19. Breaunna Addison/Noel Scott

LAST TIME OUT: Texas wrapped up its three-match road trip on Wednesday (March 13) with a 5-2 win over San Diego.

ELLIS RETURNS TO I.T.A. SINGLES RANKINGS
Two recent victories over ITA top-20 opponents have lifted Texas senior Aeriel Ellis into a familiar position in the ITA singles rankings.

Ellis holds the nation's No. 42 singles ranking after posting victories over Georgia's eighth-ranked Lauren Herring and Alabama's 20th-ranked Mary Anne Macfarlane last month at the ITA National Team Indoors. The two-time All-American added a win over Northwestern's 41st-ranked Kate Turvy in UT's road win over the Wildcats.

Ellis added a win over San Diego's 87th-ranked Laura Claus (retired) in UT's 5-2 win over the Toreros on Wednesday.

NEWCOMERS ADDISON, GROENVYNCK OFF TO SOLID START
Eighth-year head coach and former Australian Open doubles champion Patty Fendick-McCain welcomes a pair of first-semester newcomers in Lana Groenvynck (Schilde, Belgium) and Breaunna Addison (Boca Raton, Fla.). Groenvynck reached the semifinals at the 2011 Borreman Cup in Belgium, while Addison is a former singles champion at the prestigious Dunlop Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships.

Addison and Groenvynck made their collegiate debuts in January at the Miami Spring Invite and left the tournament with some impressive results. Addison posted a 3-0 singles record and defeated one opponent featured in the top-60 of the ITA singles rankings. Groenvynck posted a 2-1 mark at the Miami Invite and added a win in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend event.

Addison sits at 9-5 overall in her first semester of college tennis and now holds a No. 52 national ranking. She defeated Northwestern's 83rd-ranked Belinda Niu to help Texas to its 5-2 win on the ninth-ranked Wildcats' home courts (Feb. 22). Addison notched a 6-4, 6-2 win over Rice's Dominique Harmath on March 2.

BIG 12 CHAMPIONS BEGLEY, PADEGIMAITE CONTRIBUTING EARLY
Texas junior Elizabeth Begley and sophomore Lina Padegimaite won Big 12 individual singles titles last season and helped Texas win the Big 12 Championships. The pair has made its presence known again in 2013.

Begley, who totaled 34 wins last season, is off to a 6-5 start in dual-match play primarily at No. 4 singles. Begley defeated San Diego's Marta Stojanovic in straight sets Wednesday in UT's 5-2 win over the Toreros. Padegimaite has five dual-match wins this season, including the clinching victory in UT's 5-2 win at No. 9 Northwestern.

THE 2012-13 LONGHORNS
Texas returns six student-athletes from the 2011-12 squad that landed at No. 10 in the final ITA team poll, advanced to the NCAA Championship's round of 16 and won the Big 12 Championship.

Senior Aeriel Ellis earned her second consecutive ITA singles All-America selection last season and has qualified for 10 of 11 national championship events contested in her time as a Longhorn. The Californian has advanced to the singles round of 16 at the last two NCAA Championships. Ellis posted a perfect 3-0 singles mark in January's Miami Spring Invite.

Sophomore Lina Padegimaite posted a 22-5 overall singles record and was selected as the Big 12 Conference Freshman of the Year last season. The native of Lithuania cruised to a 9-0 mark last season in conference play. Junior Elizabeth Begley posted an impressive 34-7 overall singles record last season, which included a 21-2 dual-match record and a 9-0 mark in conference play. Begley was selected as the Most Outstanding Performer at the 2012 Big 12 Championships.

Sophomore Noel Scott knocked off several highly-ranked opponents in dual-match play last season and notched 16 singles victories as a freshman. Scott brought a No. 79 singles ranking into the spring season, and she notched a pair of impressive wins at the Miami Spring Invite. UT also returns sophomore Annat Rabinovich and junior Juliana Gajic. Rabinovich posted two singles wins at the Miami Spring Invite.