Women’s Tennis signs Tanya Sasnouskaya

Sep 28, 2023

Graduate transfer who spent the previous four years at Old Dominion University will join the Longhorns for the upcoming 2023-24 season.

AUSTIN, Texas — Tanya Sasnouskaya (Minsk, Belarus) has signed an Athletic Scholarship Agreement (ASA) to play tennis at The University of Texas, head coach Howard Joffe announced Thursday. Sasnouskaya, who played the last four seasons at Old Dominion University, will join the Longhorns as a graduate transfer for the upcoming 2023-24 season.

"Tanya's inclusion to our program makes us once again a formidable force," Joffe said. "Her results confirm this. But the real story with Tanya, and my excitement to have her on our team, is that she has gone from a strong college player to an elite player in her previous four years. She has the passion, capacity and application to keep improving. As a coach, I see the opportunity here in our program to help her make another consequential jump to be able to play pro tennis after her graduate work is done. I'm salivating with enthusiasm to get to work in the service of her intentions."

Sasnouskaya has a current UTR (Universal Tennis Rating) of 10.68. The UTR is a global tennis player rating system intended to produce an objective, consistent and accurate index of players' skill in the game of tennis. During her four seasons with the Monarchs, Sasnouskaya registered a 67-22 career singles mark and a 71-21 career doubles record. She earned her bachelor's degree in cybersecurity in May.

As a senior in 2023, Sasnouskaya registered a 22-6 overall singles record (14-3 in dual-match play) and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Singles Championship. She was No. 25 in the final ITA national singles rankings. Sasnouskaya went undefeated in Sun Belt Conference play in singles and earned Sun Belt Player of the Year and first-team All-Sun Belt singles accolades. She paired with Sofia Johnson in doubles and recorded a 20-8 overall doubles mark and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Doubles Championship. The duo was No. 26 in the final ITA national doubles rankings. Sasnouskaya led ODU to a 19-5 dual-match record, a No. 29 final ITA national ranking, a sweep of the Sun Belt Conference regular season and tournament titles and a trip to the Second Round of the NCAA Championship before falling to eventual national champion North Carolina.

During her junior season in 2022, Sasnouskaya registered a 23-11 overall singles record (16-6 in dual-match play) and was No. 108 in the final ITA national singles rankings. She paired with Yuliia Starodubtseva in doubles and recorded a 33-7 overall doubles mark and advanced to the Round of 16 at the NCAA Doubles Championship. The duo earned ITA All-America honors in doubles and were No. 7 in the final ITA national doubles rankings. Sasnouskaya and Starodubtseva were runners-up in both the prestigious ITA All-America Championships and the ITA Fall National Championships. Sasnouskaya earned first-team Conference USA accolades in both singles and doubles and was honored with Starodubtseva as the Outstanding Doubles Team of the C-USA Championship.

In the 2020-21 season, Sasnouskaya was named the C-USA Freshman of the Year, claimed C-USA singles and doubles first-team honors and earned a spot on the C-USA All-Freshman Team. She compiled a 14-2 singles mark and an 11-4 doubles record. During the shortened 2019-20 season, Sasnouskaya posted an 8-3 singles record and a 7-2 mark in doubles while claiming a spot on the C-USA All-Freshman Team.