Top-seeded SMU women's tennis tops UTSA, heads to AAC semis

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

No. 1 Seed SMU Defeats UTSA, Advances to Semifinals | Saturday, 10 a.m.

DALLAS — Seeking to defend their title, the No. 1 seed SMU Mustangs defeated No. 9 seed UTSA, 4-1, in Friday's American Athletic Conference Championship quarterfinal match at the Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex.

SMU started out the match by winning the doubles point.

Maja Makoric and Millie Skelton paired to take down UTSA's Magda Tuells and Vittoria Baccino — 6-3. This was the pair's first win in doubles play of the season.

Hadley Doyle and Drew Morris secured the doubles point for the Mustangs by defeating Ekua Youri and Fatima Gutierrez — 7-6.

In singles play, Doyle swept Cassie McLay in two sets 6-1, 6-2.

Mavor was the next Mustang to finish her singles match. The Maine native faced off against Baccino and took her down in two sets, with the first going into a tiebreaker 7-6 (7-1), 6-2

Freshman Millie Skelton — hailing to the Hilltop from Great Britain — secured the win for the Mustangs in her two-set win over Tuells 7-6 (7-4), 6-1.

This is the fourth time this year a freshman has clinched for the Mustangs, with teammate Caroline McGinley previously finishing the matches against Wichita State, LSU and Texas A&M Corpus Christi.

SMU won the American Athletic Conference Championship in 2023 and is seeking to earn back-to-back conference titles for the first time in program history.

Up Next

The Mustangs advance to take on the winner of No. 4 seed Rice versus No. 5 seed USF. SMU's semifinal match will begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday.

Doubles Scores:

Aleksandra Zlatarova/Cassie McLay (UTSA) def. Lana Mavor/Caroline McGinley (SMU) (7-5)
Hadley Doyle/Drew Morris (SMU) def. Ekua Youri/Fatima Gutierrez (UTSA) (7-6)
Maja Makoric/Millie Skelton (SMU) def. Magda Tuells/Vittoria Baccino (SMU) (6-3)
Order of finish - 3, 1, 2


Singles Scores:

Taylor Johnson (SMU) vs. Fatima Gutierrez (UTSA) (6-3, 5-4, UF)
Drew Morris (SMU) vs. Aleksandra Zlatarova (UTSA) (6-2, 6-6, UF)
Hadley Doyle (SMU) def. Cassie McLay (UTSA) (6-1, 6-2)
Lana Mavor (SMU) def. Vittoria Baccino (UTSA) (7-6 (7-1), 6-2)
Ekua Youri (UTSA) def. Caroline McGinley (SMU) (6-1, 6-4)
Millie Skelton (SMU) def. Magda Tuells (7-6 (7-4), 6-1)
Order of finish - 3, 5, 4, 6