Mean Green tennis knocks off SMU on senior day

Skipper · April 14, 2017

Cesar Valdes | Staff Writer

Coming off nearly two weeks rest, the Mean Green tennis team picked up right where they left off with a 6-1 victory over Southern Methodist University on senior day.

After falling to SMU last year in a close 4-3 match, North Texas was able to get revenge on the Mustangs Thursday.

“We’ve put so much work in,” head coach Sujay Lama said. “Just the preparation in the last four week, I [felt] so calm and confident.

Lead by the undefeated doubles duo of sophomores Maria Kononova and Tamuna Kutubidze, the Mean Green won their 11^th doubles point of the season. As promised, Lama experimented with the rest of the doubles lineup.

Senior Alexis Thoma paired with sophomore Minying Liang on the third court and clinched the doubles point for North Texas with an emphatic 6-2 victory.

In singles, Thoma was the first one off the courts, knocking off Dasha Sharapova, the close relative of WTA pro women’s player Maria Sharapova, in straight sets.

Kononova had her six-match singles win streak snapped by fellow Mustang sophomore Liza Buss. Kononova and Buss played a tough back-and-forth match, but a few critical errors ultimately allowed Buss to prevail.

Although Lama will finish the season with his fourth losing spring year, he is still confident in his team heading into the C-USA tournament. Throughout Lama’s tenure at North Texas, he has accumulated an overall record of 28-10 in the month of April.

“Everything we do, it’s all about how we finish,” Lama said. “It’s such a long journey. There’s ups and downs, but what matters is how we finish. This team is so well prepared because we’ve gone through adversity.”

Featured image: Senior Agustina Valenzuela eyes the ball during her swing. Courtesy | Mean Green Athletics

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Zeleny' Orel · April 14, 2017

Good win for the Mean Green. Maria Kononova lost a 3rd set tiebreaker a #1 for SMU's only win in a match that came down to who executed best on the big points in a very close match. Most impressive was that the bottom of the lineup played well, which should give them some confidence. SMU not a strong as in the past, but this was still a good win.

Next up is UTA at Arlington on Saturday. UTA has been a difficult team for UNT the last few years. It would really help us to follow up with another win on Saturday, gaining even more momentum going into next week's Conference USA Tournament....in Denton....hope it doesn't rain since we have no indoor courts!

GO MEAN GREEN!

untbowler · April 14, 2017

4 hours ago, Zeleny' Orel said:

Good win for the Mean Green. Maria Kononova lost a 3rd set tiebreaker a #1 for SMU's only win in a match that came down to who executed best on the big points in a very close match. Most impressive was that the bottom of the lineup played well, which should give them some confidence. SMU not a strong as in the past, but this was still a good win.

Next up is UTA at Arlington on Saturday. UTA has been a difficult team for UNT the last few years. It would really help us to follow up with another win on Saturday, gaining even more momentum going into next week's Conference USA Tournament....in Denton....hope it doesn't rain since we have no indoor courts!

GO MEAN GREEN!

very nice win for the ladies.UTA is a scrappy team, but the ladies should beat them 5/2 range.