Lady Vols Pick Up Eight Wins on Day One of UT Invite

Friday, January 9

Knoxville, Tenn.

8 a.m. ET Doubles // 12:30 p.m. ET Singles

University of Tennessee

UT Invite

January 09, 2026 | Women's Tennis

UT Invite Homepage Photo Gallery

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee women's tennis team completed day one of the UT Invite Friday, claiming eight wins on the first day of the spring season.

"I'm really proud of the way our team competed today," head coach Alison Ojeda said of her team. "We have an experienced roster who understands the importance of day-to-day training and competing, and that showed today. It was our first match of the season and as a coach, I feel like it's mid-March.

"We came out with energy in doubles and executed well," Ojeda praised. "And in singles, We were prepared for every situation that came up on all six courts in singles. Tomorrow is another opportunity for us to perform at a high level and I'm looking forward to getting back on court"

Complete results for the UT Invite can be found on the event homepage

The Lady Vols picked up two doubles set wins, courtesy of dominant showings from No. 15 Catherine Aulia/Leyla Britez Risso on court one and Maeve Thornton/Saray Yli-Piipari on court three. Both picked up early breaks to lead 4-0 in their respective sets.

The senior tandem on court one cruised to a 6-1 victory over Arizona State's Bartanusz/Tverijonaite duo, while Thornton and Yli-Piipari tallied a perfect 6-0 mark over the Sun Devils' Lim/Ovootsky pairing.

"We all been really excited to finally start competing again," Britez Risso said. "Cat [Aulia] and I knew how we wanted to play and we executed the basics. It was a great first match for us."

"I am super excited to play our senior season together and go out with a bang," Aulia said of her doubles partner. "We are basically sisters and we just have so much fun on court together. We feed off the energy of our team as well, so it's great that everyone came out with so much energy and competed hard."

In singles play, the Lady Vols dominated, earning straight-sets victories on all six courts. On court six, No. 82 Elim Yan posted the most decisive victory of the afternoon, posting a 6-1, 6-1 score on Baylor's Neda Rahimkhani. Francesca Mattioli followed suit on court five, delivering a strong 6-2, 6-2 showing against the Bears' Luna Ivkovic.

On court one, Senior Vanesa Suarez faced stiffer competition from Kennedy Gibbs, with each holding serve until the Lady Vol nabbed a deuce point to go up a break, 3-2 in her first set. She rode that momentum to a 6-3 set win, and managed a 6-2 second set to secure her first win of the spring.

Catherine Aulia fell behind early in her first set but managed to tie the score at two games apiece on a crucial deuce point to go up a break. She would win the next three games and round out the Lady Vols' perfect ledger in first sets, 6-4. She would go on to win her second set, 6-2, earning the match win over Mu Jie Tzeng.

Like Yan, Britez Risso cruised to a 6-1 first set. She collected an early break in the second and would not relinquish her lead, ultimately finishing off with a 6-4 second set.

The Lady Vols continue play tomorrow at the Goodfriend Tennis Center. Tennessee will play Vanderbilt in doubles at 1:00 p.m. and Arizona State in singles after that.