May 21, 2009
COLLEGE STATION (SMU) - The 32nd-ranked duo of Marta Lesniak and Aleksandra Malyarchikova of SMU downed the 17th-ranked pair of Megan Falcon and Mykala Hedberg of LSU, 6-2, 6-4, in the opening round of the 2009 NCAA Women's Tennis Doubles Championship on Thursday night at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center on the campus of Texas A&M. With the win, the freshmen improved to a perfect 16-0 this spring and downed their fourth ranked opponent of the season.
"I thought Marta and Sasha (Malyarchikova) played really well tonight against an experienced team that has had a lot of success," SMU head coach Lauren Longbotham Meisner said. "Both of them served really well and were aggressive at the net. I think that was the difference in the match. This was a good way to begin this tournament."
The Mustang standouts dropped the first game of the match to fall behind 0-1 to begin the first set, but rallied to win the next five games to take control early on. The Tigers then managed to pull within 5-2 moments later, before the SMU rookie pair closed out on serve to take the first set.
The LSU duo once again went up 1-0 to begin the second set, but Lesniak and Malyarchikova came back to even things up when they registered a hard fought second game win that featured multiple deuce points. The Mustang rookies then broke the Tiger tandem's serve to take the early lead again, 2-1.
Malyarchikova was on serve next for SMU, and after falling behind 30-15, the pair regrouped and took a 3-1 lead on a nice drop shot by Lesniak to close out the fourth game. The fifth game of the second set went to multiple deuce points again, before the Tigers claimed the win to pull within 3-2.
Lesniak served a beauty of a sixth game that included an ace to and Malyarchikova closed out the game by putting away two impressive winners to move SMU in front 4-2. Falcon and Hedberg would not go quietly however, and back on serve, they pulled to within 4-3.
In game eight of the second set, the Mustang freshmen fell behind 30-0, but remained calm and fought back to go ahead 40-30. After playing to deuce just once this time, Malyarchikova put away a fierce winner to put SMU up 5-3. Serving to save their season, LSU again played strong and took the final two points of game nine to make the score 5-4.
Lesniak was on serve for game ten and closed out the match victory in impressive fashion. The nation's 59th-ranked player ripped off two aces, before Malyarchikova smashed another winner to get to triple-match point. With the match at her fingertips, Lesniak smashed her third ace of the game to seal the win for SMU.
Lesniak also thought net play was a big factor in the win and felt she and Malyarchikova had tough serves to match.
"We came out pretty strong in both sets and I think we won with our net play," Lesniak said. "Once we got that first break, I think we knew that we could take control at the net and with our serves. That break really started things rolling for us. I think this was a good way to start and we just want to keep winning and keep our record perfect."
Lesniak and Malyarchikova played at the top doubles spot for SMU once they both joined the lineup at the midpoint of the spring season and the pair were C-USA's automatic bid into the NCAA Doubles Championship. The tandem, currently the league's top ranked doubles duo, has now downed two-straight top-20 doubles teams.
Falcon and Hedberg dropped to 27-10 on the season and were competing for the second time in the NCAA tournament after also falling in the first round in 2008.
The SMU pair will face the nation's eighth-ranked duo of Hilary Barte and Lindsay Burdette of Stanford in the round of 16 on Friday. Barte and Burdette are 24-7 overall this year. The duo is riding a 10-match winning streak and has posted a 12-6 mark against nationally-ranked opponents. Match time tomorrow is still to be determined.
"Playing the girls from Stanford tomorrow will be a challenge, but all the teams at this point are polished," Meisner said. "We just have to come out like we did today and worry about ourselves. That is what these two have done all season and it has worked."
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