WTENNIS Downs A&M, 4-3, Advances to NCAA Second Round

[ER9TC4]

Women's Tennis Downs Texas A&M in NCAA First Round
Ashley Turpin's furious comeback clinched the win for SMU

http://smumustangs.cstv.com/sports/w-tennis/recaps/051411aab.html#_

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (SMU) - With the match tied at three points apiece and both team's seasons hanging in the balance, SMU's Ashley Turpin rallied for a thrilling three-set victory at No. 6 singles to propel SMU into the NCAA Championship second round for a school-record third-straight season.

The Mustangs (22-5) advance to face the No. 12 seed Florida State Seminoles, who earlier in the day dispatched of Southern, on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center for a berth in the Round of 16.

In doubles, all three courts had the match-winning play in progress simultaneously. Texas A&M's 86th-ranked team of Christi Liles and Christi Potgieter finished off the Mustang's 57th-ranked tandem of Marta Lesniak and Aleksandra Malyarchikova, 8-3, at the No. 1 line.

Edyta Cieplucha and Heather Steinbauer took control of their contest and won the final three games at No. 2 to close out an 8-5 victory against Stephanie Davidson and Morgan Frank.

Just moments later, A&M's Janelle Cuthbertson and Nazari Urbina completed the instant finish with an 8-1 victory over Shahzoda Hatamova and Turpin at No. 3 to give the Aggies a 1-0 lead.

The Mustangs came out of the break focused and raced to first set singles leads on four courts and a 5-2 lead on another.

Steinbauer evened up the contest at one-all when she cruised to a 6-4, 6-2 win over Potgieter at No. 4 singles. The junior transfer improved to 19-7 on the season, including an 8-1 record at No. 4.

Hatamova gave SMU its first lead on the afternoon when she took out Cuthbertson at No. 5, also in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3. The victory was Hatamova's 15th on the season and her 8th at the No. 5 line.

A&M's Frank Frank then evened the score at 2-2 with a 7-5, 7-6 (13) win against Cieplucha at the No. 2 line. Cieplucha jumped out to the early lead in the first set, but was unable to hang on and then proceeded to fall behind 5-2 in the second.

The sophomore from Poland regrouped to make a comeback of her own in the second set to force the marathon tiebreaker. Cieplucha had fought off five set points and Frank held off three set points before she took the back-and-forth 15-13 tiebreaker.

The Aggies went up 3-2 when Urbina defeated Lesniak at No. 1, 0-6, 6-3, 6-2. The loss snapped a 19-match win streak by Lesniak, who had previously defeated Urbina in straight sets in the semifinals of the ITA Texas Regionals in October.

The lead was short lived, however, as SMU closed out the victory with furious finishes at singles lines Nos. 3 and 6.

Malyarchikova won for the 19th-straight time and claimed her ninth win at No. 3 when she took out Liles, 7-5, 6-5. The junior from Belarus is the program's current leader in career singles winning percentage, holding a 62-8 overall record during her singles career, for a winning percentage of .886.

Minutes later, Turpin, who transferred to SMU in January 2010 after playing her freshman season and the fall of her sophomore season at A&M, won the decisive point at No. 6. Turpin dropped the first set against Davidson, 6-2, but then won four consecutive games to close out a 6-1 second-set win. Turpin then won the first four games of the third set en route to a 6-2 win.

"Turp was the last court on in three sets at the C-USA Championships, and it ended up where unfortunately she couldn't pull it out and we didn't win the match," said head coach Lauren Longbotham Meisner. "I basically told her, `you've already gone through this; just go ahead and play and don't worry about it.' Of course coming back to a school you transferred from was going to be nerve-wracking. She was nervous the whole week, but she just came through. She didn't let the nerves get to her, and she was confident with her shots. That is probably the best I've seen her play this year and I'm just so happy for her."

SMU is making its school-record third consecutive and 11th overall appearance in program history in the NCAA Tournament. Saturday's win improved the Mustang's record to 16-11 in the all-time series against the Aggies and SMU has won two straight.

Prior to Saturday, the teams last met in 2010, and although SMU originally won the match, the ITA later ruled that neither team would be credited with a win after an A&M protest. In 2009, the teams met in the NCAA first round at the Baylor Tennis Center in Waco, Texas, and the Mustangs ended a five-match losing streak against the Aggies with a 4-1 victory. The only other time the teams met in the NCAAs was 2004 in College Station.

Additionally, the Mustangs handed the Aggies just their second loss on the season when taking the doubles point.

A win on Sunday against Florida State would put SMU in the program's first Sweet 16 since 1987 when the team advanced to the semifinals.

Free live scoring, live video and results from the first and second rounds can be accessed via AggieAthletics.com.

No. 32 SMU 4, No. 31 Texas A&M 3
NCAA First Round
George P. Mitchell Tennis Center
College Station, Texas

SINGLES
1. (#26) Nazari Urbina, TAMU def. (#9) Marta Lesniak, SMU, 0-6, 6-3, 6-2
2. (#113) Morgan Frank, TAMU def. Edyta Cieplucha, SMU, 7-5, 7-6 (13)
3. (#124) Aleksandra Malyarchikova, SMU def. Christi Liles, TAMU, 7-5, 6-4
4. Heather Steinbauer, SMU def. Christi Potgieter, TAMU, 6-4, 6-2
5. Shahzoda Hatamova, SMU def. Janelle Cuthbertson, TAMU, 6-1, 6-3
6. Ashley Turpin, SMU def. Stephanie Davidson, TAMU, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2

DOUBLES
1. (#86) Liles/Potgieter, TAMU def. (#57) Lesniak/Malyarchikova, SMU, 8-3
2. Cieplucha/Steinbauer, SMU def. Davidson/Frank/, TAMU, 8-5
3. Cuthbertson/Urbina, TAMU def. Hatamova/Turpin, SMU, 8-1

Order of finish: Doubles: 1, 2, 3*; Singles: 4, 5, 2, 1, 3, 6*

[ER9TC4]

In other news from the match, myself and the rest of the SMU fans in attendance were treated VERY poorly by the Aggie faithful today. They were rude to us and our players. Yelling at officials and trying to influence calls and practically tried to bait us into getting into an altercation with them.

Needless to say, we all kept our heads and wits about us and celebrated nicely when Turpin won us the match!

We were all very proud of the team, especially Turp who was in the same situation for the C-USA title and wasn't able to pull it off. She has been battling injuries all spring and to see her redeem herself today was great. She deserved this.

I'm happy for her and her entire family who are great people and great Mustangs!

[2ndandlong]

Sad to hear. I hope for the best in August.

[mathman]

Great job Mustangs.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Fantastic effort from the Mustangs - especially with our top singles and doubles losing their match.

[PonyTales]

In other news from the match, myself and the rest of the SMU fans in attendance were treated VERY poorly by the Aggie faithful today.

You're not surprised, are you?

There are some schools — Nebraska, Arizona, Virginia Tech — that are notorious for treating visiting fans extremely well, regardless of the outcome of a game. You'll NEVER see Aggie High on that list. Their fans are cult-like, and even at the non-revenue sports, they are rude and obnoxious as hell. Being loud in support of your team is fine ... even required. But go to a soccer game or a swim meet (or apparently a tennis match) or something in College Station and you'll have yet another reason to be proud you're a PonyFan.

That said, congratulations to Coach Longbotham Meisner and her team. Way to kick some Aggie tail!

[mathman]

Mustangs win again. Down Florida St. 4-3. Great job ladies.