Longbotham-Meisner first to 100 SMU wins

[PonyPride]

The SMU women's tennis team won, 4-1, at Houston, Sunday to make Lauren Longbotham-Meisner the first coach in the history of the program to record 100 victories.

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

No. 34 SMU Women's Tennis Defeats Houston 4-1, Meisner Wins 100th Match
Mustangs Improve to 18-4 on the Spring

April 10, 2011

HOUSTON (SMU) - The No. 34 SMU Women’s Tennis team handled C-USA foe Houston on Sunday, taking out the Cougars 4-1. With the victory, head coach Lauren Longbotham Meisner became the first SMU women’s tennis coach to notch 100 career victories.

Meisner is now 100-27 (.787) in her five years at the helm of the Mustangs and her team has now won six consecutive matches and nine of its last 10 contests to improve its overall record to 18-4.

SMU claimed the early lead by taking the doubles point for the second day in a row.

”I know the team was physically tired from our marathon match with Rice yesterday,” said head coach Lauren Longbotham Meisner. “But, I was really happy with how they responded. Knowing they were tired and seeing them come out mentally locked in for doubles, that was awesome.”

Edyta Cieplucha and Heather Steinbauer had little trouble at No. 2 for the second day in a row, defeating the Houston pair of Hunter/Sanders, 8-0.

Moments later, Marta Lesniak and Aleksandra Malyarchikova took out Fraser/Pozzan at No. 1, 8-3, to give their team the 1-0 lead.

Houston evened the score briefly in singles with a win at No. 6, before Shahzoda Hatamovaput her team back in the lead for good with an easy 6-1, 6-1 win at No. 5 over Maja Kazimieruk. The sophomore has now won 13 matches this spring and 18 overall on the season.

Malyarchikova pushed SMU to the brink of victory when she defeated Pozzan in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2. The junior from Belarus is now 18-1 this spring.
Lesniak closed out the win for the Mustangs with another dominant victory at No. 1. The nation’s No. 9 singles player defeated Fraser, 7-5, 6-2.

The native of Poland has now won 15 consecutive matches and 19 overall this spring. Her 37 total wins this season are good for third place on the program's all-time single season wins list and just one more win away from second place.

Lesniak is also now alone in fifth place on the all-time career wins list. She currently has 80 career victories in her three-year stint on the Hilltop.

“This was a great weekend,” said Meisner. “We’ve been on the road a lot lately and we came away with two big conference wins. Getting my 100th win is a great accomplishment that I am honored to have and am sure someday will realize how special this is. But, I really try to not look at personal accomplishments. I'm focused on helping the team finish out the regular season strong so we can achieve our goal of winning the C-USA Championship."

SMU returns to action on Saturday when take on the Wichita State. The match with the Shockers is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. CT in Wichita, Kan.

No. 34 SMU 4, Houston 1

SINGLES
1. No. 9 Marta Lesniak (SMU) def. Celia Fraser (UH), 7-5, 6-2
2. Edyta Cieplucha (SMU) vs. Bryony Hunter (UH), 4-6, 6-3, 4-1, DNF
3. No. 117 Aleksandra Malyarchikova (SMU) def. Giorgia Pozzan (UH), 6-1, 6-2
4. Heather Steinbauer (SMU) vs. Joanna Kacprzyk (UH), 6-2, 3-6, 1-0, DNF
5. Shahzoda Hatamova (SMU) def. Maja Kazimieruk (UH), 6-1, 6-1
6. Dionne Sanders (UH) def. Kris Roberts (SMU), 6-2, 6-0
Order of Finish: 6, 5, 3, 1*

DOUBLES
1. Lesniak/Malyarchikova (SMU) def. Fraser/Pozzan (UH), 8-3
2. Cieplucha/Steinbauer (SMU) def. Hunter/Sanders (UH), 8-0
3. Turpin/Hatamova (SMU) vs. Kazimieruk/Kazakova (UH), 6-3, DNF
Order of Finish: 2, 1*

[ER9TC4]

Conratulations Lauren! We are all so proud of you!

[centexstang]

Great job coach and your five teams.