MUSTANG TENNIS BEATS A&M

[centexstang]

The SMU women's tennis team defeated the Aggies tonight 5-2 in College Station.

[Peruna88]

Great job to Lauren and the team!

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

No. 33 Women's Tennis Bounces Back to Down No. 56 Texas A&M, 5-2
Mustangs Improve to 13-2 on the season

March 9, 2010

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (SMU) - The No. 33 SMU Women’s Tennis (13-2) dominated former Southwest Conference rival No. 56 Texas A&M (4-5) on Tuesday, 5-2, in a match played under the lights at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station. In doubles, the Mustangs rallied at the No. 2 line to clinch the point and then took four of the six singles matches to cruise to the victory. With the win, SMU now holds a 16-11 all-time advantage against A&M.

The SMU tandem of Shahzoda Hatamova and Casey Kennedy made quick work of A&M’s Stephanie Davidson and Sheri Olivier at No. 3, 8-3, to give the Mustangs the early advantage. Moments later, the Aggies evened things up as Nazari Urbina and Elze Potgieter downed Marta Lesniak and Aleksandra Malyarchikova, 8-4, at the top spot.

With the doubles point on the line, SMU’s Pavi Francis and Edyta Cieplucha rose to the challenge and rallied to give their team the early 1-0 lead when they took out Morgan Frank and Christi Liles at No. 2, 9-7. The teams were on serve at 7-7 when SMU broke to take an 8-7 lead. The Mustangs then held serve to win the match.

“A&M has really good doubles,” said SMU head coach Lauren Longbotham Meisner. “So, for us to fight hard after being down at No. 2 doubles and come back and clinch the point was really awesome. I am proud of Pavi and Edyta to be able to handle the pressure of the situation like that. This was redemption for them after losing a tough match against Texas and they really fought hard until the end.”

The Mustangs carried the momentum into singles as three of their four wins came in straight sets.
The Aggies tied things up briefly after SMU freshman Katerina Vankova had to retire due to injury in her match with Frank, making the score 1-1. However, that was as close as A&M would get the rest of the night.

Hatamova was off the court for SMU first with her 6-2, 6-2 dismantling of Lauren Santacroce at No. 4 to extend the Mustang lead to 2-1. The freshman is now 10-2 this spring and a perfect 6-0 at the No. 4 spot.

No. 59 Lesniak, the reigning C-USA Player of the Week, pulled SMU to within one point of the team win when she took out No. 57 Potgieter, 6-4, 6-3 at the top spot. The sophomore now a perfect 13-0 on the spring, with all the wins coming at the No. 1 singles line. She also improved to 6-1 against ranked foes on the season.

Francis clinched the win for the Mustangs with her gutty win at No. 6 over Olivier. The lone senior in tonight’s lineup rallied for a 7-5 first set win and then breezed to a 6-2 win in the second to improve to 9-3 this spring.

Much like Francis, Cieplucha also had to rally in both doubles and singles to claim her ninth singles win against just one loss. The native of Poland dropped her first set 6-2 to Liles, but fought back to force a third set after winning the second, 7-6 (4). She was too much for Liles in the third and won easily, 6-2.

Malyarchikova lost a heartbreaker at No. 3 to Urbina for just her first loss this spring. The sophomore claimed a hard-fought 7-6 win in the first set before dropping the second, 6-4. With the match already decided, the pair played a 10-point tie-breaker and it was there that Malyarchikova ran out of steam. Leading 8-6, she dropped the last four points to the nation’s 74th-ranked player to fall 10-8.

“I was happy that we came out in singles and kept fighting hard,” said Longbotham Meisner. “It was a long match, but the team conducted themselves well on the court and didn’t give up. It wasn’t our prettiest performance, but it was a really big team effort in a tough atmosphere. I was proud of the way they fought tonight after the tough loss on Saturday.”

The Mustangs are back in action this Friday as they host both Penn State and Abilene Christian at the Turpin Tennis Center. The match with the Nittany Lions begins at Noon, while the match with the Wildcats is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. CST.

No. 33 SMU 5, No. 56 Texas A&M 2
Doubles – Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2*
1 Urbina/Potgieter (A&M) def. Lesniak/Malyarchikova (SMU) – 8-4
2 Francis/Cieplucha (SMU) def. Frank/Liles (A&M) – 9-7
3 Hatamova/Kennedy (SMU) def. Davidson/Olivier (A&M) – 8-3

Singles – Order of Finish: 2, 4, 1, 6*, 5, 3
1 #59 Marta Lesniak (SMU) def. #57 Elize Potgieter (A&M) – 6-4, 6-3
2 Morgan Frank (A&M) def. Katerina Vankova (SMU) – 5-0 retired (inj.)
3 #74 Nazari Urbina (A&M) def. Aleksandra Malyarchikova (SMU) – 6-7 (5), 6-4, 1-0 (8)
4 Shahzoda Hatamova (SMU) def. Lauren Santacroce (A&M) – 6-2, 6-2
5 #117 Edyta Cieplucha (SMU) def. Christi Liles (A&M) – 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2
6 Pavi Francis (SMU) def. Sheri Olivier (A&M) – 7-5, 6-2