Feb. 6, 2010

Box Score vs. No. 35 Tulsa

Box Score vs. Oral Roberts

Season Stats

TULSA, Okla. (SMU)- The No. 25 SMU women's tennis team improved to 7-1 on the young season with a pair of wins against Tulsa and Oral Robert on Saturday at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.

The Mustangs outlasted the 35th-ranked Golden Hurricane, 4-3, in the opening match which lasted more than four hours. The match was finally decided by a third-set tie-breaker at No. 2 singles. After a quick break, SMU responded by routing Oral Roberts, 6-0, in the afternoon tilt that lasted just 45 minutes.

"We decided to mix some things up in the doubles line up this morning and unfortunately we didn't play as aggressively as I would have liked. That put us in hole early," said head coach Lauren Longbotham Meisner. "I was very proud of how we responded in singles, winning four of the six first sets. Marta (Lesniak) played really well for us at the top spot and controlled her match from start to finish. I felt Edyta (Cieplucha)and Shaha (Shahzoda Hatamova) were also aggressive and played the way we needed them to in order to give us a shot at a comeback. Sasha (Alexandra Malyarchikova) had an incredibly hard match and I am so proud of how she closed out the win for us."

After grabbing the doubles point, Tulsa took an early 2-0 lead when Michelle Farley took out SMU's Casey Kennedy at the No. 6 singles line. The Mustangs stormed back to go up 3-2 when Lesniak, Cieplucha and Hatmova all claimed their matches in impressive straight-set fashion.

TU knotted the score at 3-all when Rebecca Row downed Pavi Francis at the No. 5 spot. Row's victory set the stage for the winner-take-all showdown at the No. 2 line between Malyarchikova and JoAnne Karaitiana.

Malyarchikova had claimed the first set 6-4, before Karaitiana regrouped to take the second, 6-3. Malyarchikova had to battle the entire third set and found herself trailing most of the set. The sophomore actually faced one match point late in the final frame, but rallied to force the tie-breaker and eventually powered through for the victory.

"Sasha had an incredibly hard match and was trailing most of the third set and even faced one match point, but she was able to rally," said Longbotham Meisner. "In true Sasha form, she was resilient and even when she was down in the tie-breaker, she never gave up and was able to pull it out. Today was tough, as we were missing two starters from the lineup, but the girls stepped up and I am really proud of how they handled themselves."

After the marathon match in the morning session, the Mustangs showed no signs of fatigue in the afternoon and made quick work of the Golden Eagles. All six players in the singles lineup won their matches in straight sets to conclude the successful road trip.

"The first match was so tough and we knew it wasn't going to be easy," said Lesniak. "We started slowly, but we came out with a tough win and I am proud of the way the team handled adversity today. To also beat ORU to improve 7-1 on the season is good. It doesn't matter how we won today, just that we came away with two wins."

The Mustangs return to the courts on Friday when they host C-USA foe Tulane at 2 p.m. CST. On Sunday, the team plays host to Oklahoma State at Noon CST to conclude the weekend.

#25 SMU 6, Oral Roberts 0SINGLES1. #47 Marta Lesniak (SMU) def. Lina Semenova (ORU), 6-2, 6-12. Shahzoda Hatamova (SMU) def. Kristin Gray (ORU), 6-o, 6-03. Pavi Francis (SMU) def. Tayler Pippin (ORU), 6-1, 6-04. Edyta Cieplucha (SMU) def. Ana Costa (ORU), 6-0, 6-25. Sophie Quist (SMU) def. Ekaterina Kondrashova (ORU), 6-3, 6-16. Casey Kennedy (SMU) def. Tori Dollar (ORU), 6-0, 6-1
#25 SMU 4, #35 Tulsa 3DOUBLES (Order: 3, 2, 1)1. Karaitiana/Kichoutkin (TLS) def. #15 Francis/Lesniak (SMU), 8-62. Erofeeva/Szatkowska (TLS) def. Hatamova/Vankova (SMU), 8-53. Malyarchikova/Cieplucha (SMU) def. Farley/Row (TLS), 8-3
SINGLES (Order: 6, 1, 4, 3, 5, 2)1. #47 Marta Lesniak (SMU) def. Alexandra Kichoutkin (TLS), 6-2, 6-22. #76 Aleksandra Malyarchikova (SMU) def. JoAnne Karaitiana (TLS), 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (3)3. Shahzoda Hatamova (SMU) def. Anastasia Erofeeva (TLS), 6-3, 6-24. Edyta Cieplucha (SMU) def. Ewa Szatkowska (TLS), 6-4, 6-35. Rebecca Row (TLS) def. Pavi Francis (SMU), 6-2, 6-46. Michelle Farley (TLS) def. Casey Kennedy (SMU), 6-0, 6-0