University of North Texas Athletics
Friday, January 10
Dallas
University of North Texas
vs
SMU Invite
Photo by: Mark Woods
Outstanding Showing At Metroplex Mania
1/12/2020 7:28:00 PM | Women's Tennis
DALLAS — The Mean Green tennis team concluded the 2020 Metroplex Mania at SMU with a perfect doubles results and three wins from the top of its singles lineup.
Overall in its final tune-up before the start of the spring season, UNT picked up five doubles victories and 10 singles victories over the three-day tournament. The doubles sweep on Sunday was huge for North Texas as it showed big improvements from Friday.
On Sunday, UNT was led by senior Alexandra Heczey who paired with freshman Hala Khaled Badwy to win at No. 1 doubles 7-5 over their Denver opponent. Then in singles, Heczey took over the No.1 spot in the lineup and showed her experience as she battled incredibly hard in the third set and narrowed out her SMU opponent in a third-set tiebreaker. The final score was 6-2, 2-6, 10-8.
"I'm so happy to see how we came together as a team throughout this weekend," Heczey said. "We improved from day to day and we managed to have the best intensity and team support at the last day."
The 15 victories came over a variety opponents, including Wisconsin and Denver who finished last season in the top 45 in the nation.
"I am really happy the way we played in this tournamet," Heczey said. "I got more confident with my shots every day and it helped me to win some tough match tiebreakers."
Sunday marked the second day in a row the Mean Green's top of its singles lineup was on fire and showed its experience. The Mean Green's top of the lineup includes junior Nidhi Surapaneni and sophomore Maria Ponomareva along with Heczey. Surapaneni and Ponomareva each won their singles matches in straight sets.
Heczey and Badwy played the closest of the three doubles matches as Surapaneni/Ponomareva easily won 6-2 and freshmen Sophia Hummel and Kexuan Zhou won their doubles match 6-4.
UNT begins the spring season on Friday as they host Stephen F. Austin at 2 p.m.
"I'm really excited to start the dual matches next week where we can show how good we are," Heczey said.
COACH LAMA
"We could not have asked for a better week of preseason training. This team came together both on and off the court. We saw improvement and saved our best for the last day. Our doubles play today was outstanding and everyone played thier hearts outs in singles too. We have a nice little momentum as we look forward to the start of our dual match season this coming week."
RESULTS
Singles
Heczey def. Bartloma (SMU); 6-2, 2-6, 10-8
Surapaneni def. Petchy (SMU); 7-6, 6-2
Ponomareva def.Jackway (SMU); 6-2, 6-2
Hollebeck (SMU) def. Hummel; 5-7, 3-6
Nelson (UD) def. Zhou; 4-6, 7-5, 4-10
Berger (UD) def. Sasaki; 7-5, 3-6, 4-10
Doubles
Badwy/ Heczey def. Chans/Melville (UD); 7-5
Surapaneni/ Ponomareva def. Verden-Anderson/Pursell (UD); 6-2
Hummel/Zhou def. Burger/Nelson (UD); 6-4
Overall in its final tune-up before the start of the spring season, UNT picked up five doubles victories and 10 singles victories over the three-day tournament. The doubles sweep on Sunday was huge for North Texas as it showed big improvements from Friday.
On Sunday, UNT was led by senior Alexandra Heczey who paired with freshman Hala Khaled Badwy to win at No. 1 doubles 7-5 over their Denver opponent. Then in singles, Heczey took over the No.1 spot in the lineup and showed her experience as she battled incredibly hard in the third set and narrowed out her SMU opponent in a third-set tiebreaker. The final score was 6-2, 2-6, 10-8.
"I'm so happy to see how we came together as a team throughout this weekend," Heczey said. "We improved from day to day and we managed to have the best intensity and team support at the last day."
The 15 victories came over a variety opponents, including Wisconsin and Denver who finished last season in the top 45 in the nation.
"I am really happy the way we played in this tournamet," Heczey said. "I got more confident with my shots every day and it helped me to win some tough match tiebreakers."
Sunday marked the second day in a row the Mean Green's top of its singles lineup was on fire and showed its experience. The Mean Green's top of the lineup includes junior Nidhi Surapaneni and sophomore Maria Ponomareva along with Heczey. Surapaneni and Ponomareva each won their singles matches in straight sets.
Heczey and Badwy played the closest of the three doubles matches as Surapaneni/Ponomareva easily won 6-2 and freshmen Sophia Hummel and Kexuan Zhou won their doubles match 6-4.
UNT begins the spring season on Friday as they host Stephen F. Austin at 2 p.m.
"I'm really excited to start the dual matches next week where we can show how good we are," Heczey said.
COACH LAMA
"We could not have asked for a better week of preseason training. This team came together both on and off the court. We saw improvement and saved our best for the last day. Our doubles play today was outstanding and everyone played thier hearts outs in singles too. We have a nice little momentum as we look forward to the start of our dual match season this coming week."
RESULTS
Singles
Heczey def. Bartloma (SMU); 6-2, 2-6, 10-8
Surapaneni def. Petchy (SMU); 7-6, 6-2
Ponomareva def.Jackway (SMU); 6-2, 6-2
Hollebeck (SMU) def. Hummel; 5-7, 3-6
Nelson (UD) def. Zhou; 4-6, 7-5, 4-10
Berger (UD) def. Sasaki; 7-5, 3-6, 4-10
Doubles
Badwy/ Heczey def. Chans/Melville (UD); 7-5
Surapaneni/ Ponomareva def. Verden-Anderson/Pursell (UD); 6-2
Hummel/Zhou def. Burger/Nelson (UD); 6-4
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
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