University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
#70 Arkansas
Women’s Tennis Central: #8 Tennessee at #70 Arkansas and #12 Oklahoma
March 13, 2025 | Women's Tennis
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The eighth-ranked Tennessee women's tennis team is slated to travel to No. 70 Arkansas and No.12 Oklahoma. The Lady Vols will face the Razorbacks at 6 p.m. ET on Friday, before playing the Sooners at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday.
Last weekend, the Big Orange split its matches, defeating No. 25 South Carolina, 4-1, before falling at No. 1 Georgia, 4-0. In the victory against the Gamecocks, Elza Tomase earned her 90th career singles victory against No. 19 Sarah Hamner, 6-3, 7-5. Tomase is the 15th player in program history to reach the 90-win mark.
The Lady Vols have shifted their doubles pairings and have found success doing so. The freshman duo of Conley Raidt and Saray Yli-Piipari posted a 6-3 victory against Helena Buchwald and Misa Malin. The win marked their first conference triumph together. The new partnering of Tomase and Maeve Thornton swept the No. 36-ranked duo of Sarah Hamner and Kaitlyn Carnicella, 6-0.
The duo of Leyla Britez Risso and Catherine Aulia have been a steady force thus far. Together, they have tallied a five-match winning streak.
In singles, No. 103 Britez Risso leads the Big Orange with nine victories, posting an eight-match winning streak to start the season. Tomase follows with eight triumphs; her biggest win thus far came against No. 15 Ohio State's No. 8 Luciana Perry, 6-3, 6-4.
Tennessee has knocked off six ranked opponents thus far, defeating No. 15 Texas Tech, No. 15 Pepperdine, No.4 Stanford, No. 67 Kentucky, No. 71 Ole Miss and No. 25 South Carolina.
MILESTONE TRACKER: Head Coach Alison Ojeda is approaching 200 career wins. She currently owns 197 triumphs, with 152 of them coming at Tennessee. Ojeda will join two previous Tennessee head coaches, Mike Patrick and Sonia Hanhn-Patrick, who have hit the 200 mark in their careers.
Junior Catherine Aulia is one win away from hitting 50 career doubles decisions. Aulia has collected 16 victories so far and has been ranked as high as No. 23 with partner Tomase.
A PEEK AT THE CHARTS: The Intercollegiate Tennis Association announced on March 10 that the squad is No. 8 in the seventh poll of 2025. The following members of the team were ranked in the third spring ITA individual poll posted on March 4, 2025:
Singles
No. 8 Elza Tomase
No. 36 Catherine Aulia
No. 103 Leyla Britez Risso
Doubles
No. 40 Vanesa Suarez & Maeve Thornton
No. 43 Elza Tomase & Catherine Aulia
No. 49 Elza Tomase & Elim Yan
No. 52 Catherine Aulia & Leyla Britez Risso
Arkansas:
Singles
No. 55 Carolina Gomez Alonso
Doubles
No. 82 Anet Koskel and Grace O'Donnell
Oklahoma:
Singles
No. 17 Julia Garcia Ruiz
No. 34 Alina Shcherbinna
No. 74 Emma Staker
No. 98 Gloriana Nahum
Doubles
No. 63 Cara Mester & Alina Shcherbinna
No. 76 Cara Mester & Emma Ghirardato
SCOUTING THE RAZORACKS: The Lady Vols lead the all-time series, 29-8, against Arkansas. Thirteen of Tennessee's 29 wins have come in Fayetteville, Ark. The last time the two teams met was last season in Fayetteville, when UT posted a 6-1 victory on March 1, 2024. The Razorbacks own a 4-8 overall record and 1-4 conference mark thus far in the season.
Live stats for the Arkansas match can be found here and the live stream can be found here.
SCOUTING THE SOONERS: Tennessee has never played Oklahoma. The two new conference mates will square off for the first time on Sunday. The Sooners possess a 10-3 overall record and a 3-2 conference mark thus far.
Live stats for the Oklahoma match can be found here and the live stream can be found here.
For all the latest information from Lady Vol Tennis, follow the team on X @Vol_WTennis, Instagram @vol_wtennis or Facebook.
Players Mentioned
