Saturday, January 19
Iowa City, IA
9 AM
University of North Texas
vs
Xavier
Photo by: Mark Woods
Mean Green Tennis Heads To Iowa
1/18/2019 6:03:00 PM | Women's Tennis
IOWA CITY, Iowa — The North Texas tennis team is on the road in snowy Iowa where they will play their first two matches away from home this year.
Just a few days removed from their 7-0 win over Abilene Christian on Tuesday, the Mean Green (1-0) will take on Xavier on Saturday at 9 a.m. CT and Iowa on Sunday at 10 a.m. CT. Both matches will be played indoors.
"We are taking each one at a time," said head coach Sujay Lama. "We want to make sure we are getting better at the little things each and continue focusing on having a championship mindset."
On Tuesday, North Texas nearly won every match in straight sets as they beat the Wildcats in just over two hours. The top of the Mean Green's lineup, which will be a staple for the team this season, was locked in and looked like they were in mid-season form.
Seniors Maria Kononova and Tamuna Kutubidze were the first two UNT players to wrap up singles wins on Tuesday and both felt good about their performances after the win.
What Lama was most excited about following the 7-0 win was how good the doubles teams looked.
All three of the doubles teams won in straight sets and played well off each other as they led North Texas to the all important doubles point in roughly 30 minutes.
Saturday will mark the second time in program history that the Mean Green will face Xavier. They last played them in 2011 and won 7-0 in Denton.
North Texas has recent success against the Hawkeyes. UNT hosted Iowa last year early in the season and beat them 4-3 thanks to a complete team effort but also Kutubidze's 10-8 tiebreak win to clinch the match for the Mean Green. The win for Kutubidze was the start of what has been a tremendous run for the senior from Georgia. A run that came off a season filled with injuries and a run that has solidified the power-player as one of the best in program history.
"We have to be champion minded," Lama said. "This is a fantastic group of women who are focused and veterans now."
A link to live stats to Sunday's match in Iowa City will be made available on match day.
Just a few days removed from their 7-0 win over Abilene Christian on Tuesday, the Mean Green (1-0) will take on Xavier on Saturday at 9 a.m. CT and Iowa on Sunday at 10 a.m. CT. Both matches will be played indoors.
"We are taking each one at a time," said head coach Sujay Lama. "We want to make sure we are getting better at the little things each and continue focusing on having a championship mindset."
On Tuesday, North Texas nearly won every match in straight sets as they beat the Wildcats in just over two hours. The top of the Mean Green's lineup, which will be a staple for the team this season, was locked in and looked like they were in mid-season form.
Seniors Maria Kononova and Tamuna Kutubidze were the first two UNT players to wrap up singles wins on Tuesday and both felt good about their performances after the win.
What Lama was most excited about following the 7-0 win was how good the doubles teams looked.
All three of the doubles teams won in straight sets and played well off each other as they led North Texas to the all important doubles point in roughly 30 minutes.
Saturday will mark the second time in program history that the Mean Green will face Xavier. They last played them in 2011 and won 7-0 in Denton.
North Texas has recent success against the Hawkeyes. UNT hosted Iowa last year early in the season and beat them 4-3 thanks to a complete team effort but also Kutubidze's 10-8 tiebreak win to clinch the match for the Mean Green. The win for Kutubidze was the start of what has been a tremendous run for the senior from Georgia. A run that came off a season filled with injuries and a run that has solidified the power-player as one of the best in program history.
"We have to be champion minded," Lama said. "This is a fantastic group of women who are focused and veterans now."
A link to live stats to Sunday's match in Iowa City will be made available on match day.
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
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