No. 62 SMU Hosts UT Arlington On Tuesday
Mar 30 | Women's Tennis
| #62 SMU (13-4) vs. UT Arlington (10-3) | |
| Date & Start Time | Tuesday, March 31, at 2 p.m. CT |
| Location | SMU Tennis Complex |
| Live Scoring | SMUMustangs.com |
| Match Notes | Notes (.pdf) |
| /SMUMustangs | /SMUTennisW | |
| @SMUMustangs | @SMUTennis | |
DALLAS -- The 62nd-ranked SMU women's tennis team hosts UT Arlington on Tuesday at 2 p.m. in non-conference action at the SMU Tennis Complex. The Mustangs have won six of their last seven and four of their last five at home.
With a win, SMU would tie the highest single-season win total (14) under head coach Kati Gyulai. The Mustangs went 14-10 and ended the season ranked 51st in 2013, Gyulai's second season on the Hilltop.
SMU Tennis Complex:
5669 N Central Expressway | SMU | Dallas, TX 75205
Parking: Match-day parking for the SMU Tennis Complex is available on campus in the Binkley and Moody Parking Centers. SMU athletics ask that visitors not park in the residential areas surrounding the facility or in Park Cities Plaza.
SMU (13-4) went 2-0 last weekend in its first matches at the outdoor Turpin Stadium at the SMU Tennis Complex. On Friday, the Mustangs defeated UAB, before taking down 75th-ranked Kansas, 4-3, in a thrilling match. The win over the Jayhawks was SMU's fourth over a ranked opponent this season.
SCOUTING UT ARLINGTON
UT Arlington (10-3) enters Tuesday on a four-match winning streak after sweeping Texas State, 4-0, at home last weekend. The Mavericks and Mustangs have two common opponents, UCF and UAB, this season. SMU defeated both UCF and UAB, while UTA beat UAB, but fell to UCF. Augustina Serio owns an 11-1 dual match record in singles, playing the majority of her matches in the No. 3 and 4 slots. Elizabeth Thoms is the Mavericks' No. 1 singles player and is 8-2 this spring, while Angeles de los Rios, who plays No. 2 or No. 3, is 8-1.
Series History: SMU is 7-3 all-time versus UT Arlington. The teams met last year with the Mavericks taking a 4-3 victory on their home court. The teams first met in 1997, when SMU defeated UTA 9-0 in Dallas.
DISHKOVA, VERNER DOMNINATING DOUBLES
Junior Hristina Dishkova and senior Holly Verner's 24 doubles wins this season is a new school record. The previous record was 22. They entered the spring season as the sixth-ranked doubles pair in the Texas region, after reaching the semifinals of the ITA Texas Regional, narrowly missing a berth to the ITA Indoor Championships. They are 24-4 overall this year, including a perfect 13-0 mark in dual match play. Their 45 career wins are third all-time at SMU.
Team Doubles Victories (Career)
1. Lesniak / Malyarchikova 2008-11 53
2. Greyvenstyn / Zerdan 1994-97 49
3. Dishkova / Verner 2012-present 45
20-WIN CLUB
In singles, Hristina Dishkova and Dasha Sharapova have both eclipsed the 20-win mark this season. Dishkova's record stands at 20-12, including a 10-4 mark in the No. 1 singles slot. Sharapova has the best singles record of any Mustang with a 21-8 mark. Sharapova, who was named all-conference last season, is 11-3 in No. 3 singles in dual matches.
SMU VS. RANKED OPPONENTS
SMU has faced seven ranked opponents so far this season, posting a 4-3 record in those matches. The Mustangs have earned wins over then-No. 62 USF (5-2, Feb. 22), then-No. 64 Hawaii (6-1, March 11), then-No. 41 New Mexico (4-0, March 20) and then-No. 75 Kansas (4-3, March 28). All three of SMU's losses to ranked opponents have come to highly-ranked Big 12 foes.
IN THE ITA RANKINGS
SMU appears in the national ITA rankings for the third time this season, coming in at No. 62 in the latest rankings (March 24). The ranking is a 12-spot improvement over the last ranking (No. 74, March 17). The Mustangs were ranked 47th in the Feb. 24 ranking. Junior Vaszilisza Bulgakova is the only Mustang to have appeared in the ITA national singles rankings. Bulgakova reached a ranking of 108 last year. Regionally, Hristina Dishkova and Holly Verner are ranked sixth in doubles in the ITA Texas region.
FOREIGN CONNECTION
Four of the eight student-athletes on SMU's roster hail from foreign countries. Vaszilisza Bulgakova (Hungary), Hristina Dishkova (Germany), Yana Erkeeva (Russia) and Dasha Sharapova (Belarus) all represent different nationalities. In addition to the student-athletes, head coach Kati Gyulai is a native Hungarian and was raised in Transylvania, Romania.
UP NEXT - MEMPHIS
The Mustangs make their third road trip of the season, traveling to Memphis for a conference matchup with the Tigers on Friday, April 3 at 10 a.m. CT.
