University of North Texas
Wichita State
North Texas Travels To No. 44 Wichita State
3/22/2019 12:43:00 PM | Women's Tennis
Wichita, Kansas — After a nearly two-week break, the Mean Green tennis team is back in action on Saturday at 3 p.m. against the No. 44 nationally ranked Wichita State Shockers in Wichita, Kansas.
Saturday will mark the second top 50 opponent North Texas has played this season. The match can be followed live with the Shockers' live stats.
"We have had a good block of time to train," said head coach Sujay Lama. "This team is locked into being at its best for this stretch run."
UNT (9-6) is headed down the final stretch of the regular season. Including Saturday, there are just six regular season matches remaining and the last five will be played over just a 12-day stretch.
The Mean Green are just one win shy of surpassing last season's total and have gone on stretches where they have dominated opponents with shutout victories that took less than two hours.
From the top of the lineup to the bottom, North Texas has put together one of its most complete teams since joining Conference USA in 2013. But these final six matches headed into the conference tournament in Houston from April 18 through April 21 will set the tone for the Mean Green but also challenge them as they will face some of the nation's top teams such as the Shockers (8-8).
"Wichita State is a good team year in and year out," Lama said. "We have to be very disciplined and execute to be successful. We are very excited for the opportunity. This should be good test for us."
North Texas last played on March 10 versus Louisiana Tech who they beat 7-0. It was the Mean Green's sixth shutout win of the year, five more than they had all of last year.
Wichita State is coming off a 4-0 loss to No. 28 UCF last Sunday. However, they have wins over Gonzaga and SMU who at the time they played them were both top 40 ranked teams.
North Texas seniors Tamuna Kutubidze, Maria Kononova and junior Ivana Babic will look to keep their tremendous seasons going. The three have combined for a 25-6 singles record. As a team, UNT is 49-25 in singles this year. Babic has won three straight singles matches. Kutubidze has won six straight and after a slow start, Kononova is back to her all-conference self as she has rallied off eight straight singles wins to improve to 9-4 on the year.
As always, setting the tone in doubles will be key on Saturday. Kononova and Kutubidze remain unbeaten on the year in doubles play and can be the light to ignite a late season stretch run that could propel the Mean Green to their third conference championship in the last nine years.
This will be the fourth year in a row UNT has faced the Shockers.
