Sunday, March 31
Denton
Noon CT
University of North Texas
3
vs
4
UTSA
Photo by: Mark Woods
Mean Green Lose 4-3 To UTSA
3/31/2019 5:18:00 PM | Women's Tennis
DENTON — The North Texas tennis team couldn't hold off a late surge from UTSA Sunday afternoon as they lost 4-3 to the Roadrunners.
After taking the doubles point, the Mean Green (9-9) won two quick singles matches to give them a 3-0 overall score lead over UTSA (11-10) and needed to win just one more of the four final singles matches to clinch the league win. However when the tide began to turn, the Roadrunners' energy picked up.
UTSA won three straight singles matches and brought all the eyes to court one where Tamuna Kutubidze was battling for the win as it rested on her shoulders.
After a tough start, Kutubidze battled through ups and downs and near second-set loss to hang on to send it to a third set. But Kutubidze fell two games behind and wasn't able to make the comeback as she fell 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-4.
The Mean Green's two singles wins came at No. 2 and No. 5.
After having to drop out of Saturday's match due to illness equaling her first loss in 11 matches, Maria Kononova bounced back on Sunday with a convincing 6-4, 6-2 win over UTSA and improve her record to 12-5 on the year. The 12 wins is the program's all-time singles wins leader's second-most in a single season. Kononova had a record breaking 18 duel match wins her sophomore season in 2017.
Kononova now has 79 career singles wins and improves her career winning percentage to .681.
Sophomore Nidhi Surapaneni was the first singles player to pick up a win on Sunday. Surapaneni rolled to 6-2, 6-2 win and now has eight singles wins, which is fourth-most on the team.
In doubles, Kononova and Kutubidze — the No. 44 nationally ranked doubles team — suffered its first loss of the year on Saturday to Tulsa but came out on Sunday and looked like its normal self with a 6-3 win at the top of the lineup.
Kononova and Kutubidze are now 66-24 all-time when paired together.
Junior Ivana Babic, who has the third-most wins on the team, missed Sunday's match and has missed the last two matches with a minor injury.
Singles
1. Jasmin Starr (UTSA) def. #77 Tamuna Kutubidze (UNT) 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4
2. Maria Kononova (UNT) def. Laura Cabrera (UTSA) 6-4, 6-2
3. Kylee Kato (UTSA) def. Minying Liang (UNT) 7-5, 6-4
4. Mariah Plauth (UTSA) def. Alexandra Heczey (UNT) 2-6, 6-4, 6-3
5. Nidhi Surapaneni (UNT) def. Sophie Omoworare (UTSA) 6-2, 6-2
6. Charleen Tiwari (UTSA) def. Haruka Sasaki (UNT) 6-4, 7-5
Doubles
1. #44 Tamuna Kutubidze/Maria Kononova (UNT) def. Jasmin Starr/Mariah Plauth (UTSA) 6-3
2. Minying Liang/Nidhi Surapaneni (UNT) def. Sophie Omoworare/Kylee Kato (UTSA) 6-5
3. Alexandra Heczey/Haruka Sasaki (UNT) def. Laura Cabrera/Charleen Tiwari (UTSA) 6-4
After taking the doubles point, the Mean Green (9-9) won two quick singles matches to give them a 3-0 overall score lead over UTSA (11-10) and needed to win just one more of the four final singles matches to clinch the league win. However when the tide began to turn, the Roadrunners' energy picked up.
UTSA won three straight singles matches and brought all the eyes to court one where Tamuna Kutubidze was battling for the win as it rested on her shoulders.
After a tough start, Kutubidze battled through ups and downs and near second-set loss to hang on to send it to a third set. But Kutubidze fell two games behind and wasn't able to make the comeback as she fell 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-4.
The Mean Green's two singles wins came at No. 2 and No. 5.
After having to drop out of Saturday's match due to illness equaling her first loss in 11 matches, Maria Kononova bounced back on Sunday with a convincing 6-4, 6-2 win over UTSA and improve her record to 12-5 on the year. The 12 wins is the program's all-time singles wins leader's second-most in a single season. Kononova had a record breaking 18 duel match wins her sophomore season in 2017.
Kononova now has 79 career singles wins and improves her career winning percentage to .681.
Sophomore Nidhi Surapaneni was the first singles player to pick up a win on Sunday. Surapaneni rolled to 6-2, 6-2 win and now has eight singles wins, which is fourth-most on the team.
In doubles, Kononova and Kutubidze — the No. 44 nationally ranked doubles team — suffered its first loss of the year on Saturday to Tulsa but came out on Sunday and looked like its normal self with a 6-3 win at the top of the lineup.
Kononova and Kutubidze are now 66-24 all-time when paired together.
Junior Ivana Babic, who has the third-most wins on the team, missed Sunday's match and has missed the last two matches with a minor injury.
Singles
1. Jasmin Starr (UTSA) def. #77 Tamuna Kutubidze (UNT) 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4
2. Maria Kononova (UNT) def. Laura Cabrera (UTSA) 6-4, 6-2
3. Kylee Kato (UTSA) def. Minying Liang (UNT) 7-5, 6-4
4. Mariah Plauth (UTSA) def. Alexandra Heczey (UNT) 2-6, 6-4, 6-3
5. Nidhi Surapaneni (UNT) def. Sophie Omoworare (UTSA) 6-2, 6-2
6. Charleen Tiwari (UTSA) def. Haruka Sasaki (UNT) 6-4, 7-5
Doubles
1. #44 Tamuna Kutubidze/Maria Kononova (UNT) def. Jasmin Starr/Mariah Plauth (UTSA) 6-3
2. Minying Liang/Nidhi Surapaneni (UNT) def. Sophie Omoworare/Kylee Kato (UTSA) 6-5
3. Alexandra Heczey/Haruka Sasaki (UNT) def. Laura Cabrera/Charleen Tiwari (UTSA) 6-4
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
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