WTennis Wins Again, Plays Sunday Morning at 8 at Bent Tree

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No. 29 Women's Tennis Downs No. 23 VCU 4-2 on Saturday

Mustangs have won 12 of their last 13 matches, host Southern Miss Sunday at 8 a.m. at Bent Tree Country Club

DALLAS, Texas (SMU) - The No. 29 SMU Women’s Tennis team (16-2) won its fourth consecutive match on Saturday evening when it downed No. 23 VCU (13-3), 4-2, at Bent Tree Country Club in North Dallas. The match was moved indoors due to inclement weather in the Dallas area.

“We came out a little flat in doubles, which I wasn’t pleased with” said head coach Lauren Longbotham Meisner. “But, we regrouped during the break and came out with a dominating performance in singles. This was a good win against a Top 25 team, but we need to get more consistent with how we start out in doubles going forward.”

The Mustangs fell behind early in the match as the Rams took the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 3. SMU’s top doubles tandem of Marta Lesniak and Aleksandra Malyarchikova continued their strong play however, and improved to 9-3 at the No. 1 spot with their 8-3 win over Josefin Hjertquist and Ana Bara.

When the match shifted to singles, SMU gained a quick advantage with some dominating performances and was able to rally for the impressive win.

Lesniak, ranked No. 29 in the latest ITA singles rankings, improved to 16-0 at the No. 1 singles line with her 6-2, 6-4 handling of Hjertquist, while freshman Katerina Vankova picked up her fourth win against just one defeat this spring as she took out Ana Bara, 6-3, 6-1 at No. 2.

Freshmen Edyta Cieplucha and Shahzoda Hatamova both picked up their 12th wins on the spring at the bottom of the Mustang lineup to clinch the victory. Cieplucha dismantled Laura Burns, 6-1, 6-1, while Hatamova also cruised winning 6-3, 6-3 against Alex Bara.

Cieplucha is now 12-1 and a perfect 5-0 at the No. 5 singles spot, while Hatamova is 12-3 and a spotless 8-0 at the No. 4 line.

The Mustangs return to the court on Sunday morning when they host C-USA foe Southern Miss. The match has also been moved to Bent Tree Country Club due to the inclement weather and first serve is set for 8 a.m.

Bent Tree CC
http://www.benttreecc.org
5201 Westgrove Drive
Dallas, TX 75248-2099
(972) 931-7326

No. 29 SMU 4, No. 23 VCU 2
DOUBLES
1. Lesniak/Malyarchikova (SMU) def. Josefin Hjertquist/Ana Bara (VCU), 8-3
2. No. 47 Kateryna Yergina/Laura Burns (VCU) def. Francis/Cieplucha (SMU), 9-7
3. Alex Bara/Olena Leonchuk (VCU) def. Hatamova/Kennedy (SMU), 8-3

SINGLES
1. No. 29 Lesniak (SMU) def. Josefin Hjertquist (VCU), 6-2, 6-4
2. Vankova (SMU) def. Ana Bara (VCU), 6-3, 6-1
3. Kateryna Yergina (VCU) def. No. 97 Malyarchikova (SMU), 6-5, 6-1
4. Hatamova (SMU) def. Alex Bara (VCU), 6-3, 6-3
5. Cieplucha (SMU) def. Laura Burns (VCU), 6-1, 6-1
6. Francis (SMU) vs. OLena Leonchuk (VCU), 1-6, DNF