No. 32 SMU Women's Tennis Closes Regular Season With 5-2 Win

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From SMUMustangs.com:

No. 32 SMU Women's Tennis Closes Regular Season With 5-2 Win At Wichita State
The Mustangs have won 10 of their last 11 matches

April 16, 2011

WICHITA, Kan. (SMU) - The No. 32 SMU women’s tennis team closed out its regular season schedule with a solid 5-2 win over Wichita State, the squad’s seventh consecutive victory. The Mustangs are now 19-4 and have also won 10 of their last 11 contests.

”We came out slower than I would have liked in doubles,” said head coach Lauren Longbotham Meisner. “Wichita came out very aggressive and it took us a little bit to get ourselves into the match. Thankfully though, we were able to regroup and take the doubles point which set us up nicely for the rest of the day.”

SMU’s top two doubles tandems were victorious to stake SMU to the early lead.

Edyta Cieplucha and Heather Steinbauer improved to 17-4 on the season when they defeated Budiharto/Zotter at No. 2, 8-3.

Moments later, Marta Lesniak and Aleksandra Malyarchikova also won for the 17th time this spring, dispatching of Blasco Fernandez/Blaskova at No. 1, 8-6, to clinch the doubles point.

The Mustangs wasted little time in singles getting the three victories necessary for the team win.

Lesniak was first off the courts when she took out Budiharto at No. 1, 6-0, 6-2. The nation’s No. 10 singles player has now won 16 consecutive singles decisions and 20 matches overall this spring. Her 38 total wins this season place her in a tie for second on the program’s all-time single season wins list.

Lesniak is alone in fifth place on the all-time career wins list. She currently has 81 career victories in her three-year stint on the Hilltop.

Malyarchikova claimed the third point for SMU when she took out Blaskova at No. 3. The native of Belarus won 6-2, 6-0, to run her spring record to 19-1.
Steinbauer clinched the match for her team with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Carla Venticinque at No. 4.

The final SMU win came at No. 2 where Cieplucha took out Zotter, 7-6, 3-6, 10-3.

“We came out much better in singles and were able to end the season with a good win against a good Wichita State team,” said Meisner. “We have some nice momentum heading into the conference tournament and I think the team is playing very good tennis right now. We have a lot of confidence heading to Orlando.”

Saturday’s win improved Meisner’s coaching record to 101-27 (.789) at the helm of the Mustangs. The fifth-year head coach has the most wins in the history of the program and is also the program’s only 100-match winner.

SMU returns to action on Friday, April 22 when they play their first match of the 2011 Conference USA Women’s Tennis Tournament. Full pairings for the event taking place April 21-24 at UCF in Orlando will be announced this week. Check back later this week to http://www.smumustangs.com for complete tournament information.

No. 32 SMU 5, Wichita State 2

DOUBLES
1. Lesniak/Malyarchikova (SMU) def. Blasco Fernandez/Blaskova (WSU), 8-6
2. Cieplucha/Steinbauer (SMU) def. Budiharto/Zotter (WSU), 8-3
3. Damaschin/Venticinque (WSU) def. Hatamova/Turpin (SMU), 8-3
Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1*

SINGLES
1. No. 10 Marta Lesniak (SMU) def. Lutfiana Budiharto (WSU), 6-0, 6-2
2. Edyta Cieplucha (SMU) def. Raphaela Zotter (WSU), 7-6, 3-6, 10-3
3. No. 122 Aleksandra Malyarchikova (SMU) def. Veronika Blaskova (WSU), 6-2, 6-0
4. Heather Steinbauer (SMU) def. Carla Venticinque (WSU), 6-2, 6-4
5. Delia Damaschin (WSU) def. Shahzoda Hatamova (SMU), 2-6, 6-4, 10-7
6. Montse Blasco Fernandez (WSU) def. Kris Roberts (SMU), 6-1, 6-3
Order of Finish: 1, 3, 6, 4*, 5, 2