Texas' Peyton Stearns captures school's first women's NCAA tennis singles championship

Texas’ Peyton Stearns became the first women’s tennis player in school history to capture an NCAA singles national championship when she swept Stanford’s Connie Ma 6-3, 6-2 Saturday in Urbana, Ill.

Stearns, a sophomore, was the No. 2 seed in the NCAA field and was instrumental in pacing Texas to its second consecutive team national title last Sunday. And on Saturday she avenged one of only two season losses to Ma and completed her season with an impressive 33-2 record. Her other loss came in the NCAA team competition.

Asked to describe her emotions, Stearns texted, "Insanity."

Stearns was dominant in singles play, dropping just one set out of 11 in her path to the championship. She joined Beverly Bowes (1986), Kelly Pace (1993 and 1995) and Breaunna Addison (2013) as the only UT players to reach the semifinal round in singles.

Bohls: Texas' Peyton Stearns is on the fast track to women's tennis stardom

The two-time All-American was last year’s most outstanding player and probably will be again as she became the first Longhorn to advance to the finals since Pace in 1995.

Counting her doubles play with freshman Allura Zamarripa, Stearns finished the year with a 46-6 record. She and Zamarripa went 13-4 and fell in a three-set match in the NCAA quarterfinals this week. Both were named doubles All-Americans.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas' Peyton Stearns wins NCAA women's tennis singles championship