University of North Texas Athletics
Photo by: Luke Della
Mean Green Show Growth At TCU Invite
1/11/2021 10:11:00 PM | Women's Tennis
FORT WORTH — The North Texas tennis team concluded its final preseason tournament on Monday at the TCU Invite. And UNT is feeling great as they head into the spring dual match season next week.
The Mean Green finished the multi-day tournament with nine singles wins, including Sunday's perfect 5-0 day. Most of the victories coming against SEC and BIG 12 opponents. They also had two doubles victories both over Central Arkansas who reached the NCAA Tournament in 2019 — the most recent NCAA Women's Tennis Tournament.
"Preseason week of training and competition could not have gone better for us," said head coach Sujay Lama. "We saw tremendous growth both in practice and in the tournament at TCU. Everyone competed at a very high level."
At the end of the tournament the Mean Green were led once again by its senior Nidhi Surapaneni who again on Monday picked up another big singles victory. Surapaneni beat the Texas A&M Aggie's Jayci Goldsmith in comeback fashion. After dropping the first set, Surapaneni won the second set convincingly and battle tough a grueling third set tiebreak to pull out the vicory.
UNT newcomer Lucie Devier made a name for herself in the tournament. The junior beat a Texas A&M opponent on Sunday and a TCU opponent on Saturday. On Monday, Devier fell narrowly in a tiebreak to the Aggie's Tatiana Makarova who is the No. 99 ranked player in the nation and her team's No. 1 player.
"The work Nidhi and Lucie put in off season showed up in their inspiring performances this weekend," Lama said. "Both of them had big wins against strong opponents."
In addition to their singles success, Surapaneni and Devier won a doubles match together on Saturday.
Also having excellent performances this weekend were Saki Oyama and Kexuan Zhou.
Oyama won two singles matches over the three days, both in straight sets and over the defending Southland Conference champs. Right there with Oyama was her teammate Zhou.
Zhou beat a Texas A&M opponent on Sunday in a resilient third set tiebreaker. She also beat a Central Arkansas opponent in dominating style, 6-0, 6-2.
"Kexuan showed a glimpse of what she is capable of with hard work she is capable of being an impact player," Lama said. "Saki competed well and is getting comfortable with college tennis. When she is invested she is a force to reckon with."
Sophomore Sophia Hummel returned to the court this weekend from an injury that kept her out from training all of last semester. Despite that, Hummel had a huge victory on Sunday over a Texas A&M opponent. In addition to Sunday's singles win, Hummel and Oyama won their doubles match on Sunday.
"It was great to see Sophia back after her surgery," Lama said. "She was able to shake off her rust. You can see her maturity in the way she competed this weekend."
UNT is scheduled to start its spring season on Sunday at Texas.
The Mean Green finished the multi-day tournament with nine singles wins, including Sunday's perfect 5-0 day. Most of the victories coming against SEC and BIG 12 opponents. They also had two doubles victories both over Central Arkansas who reached the NCAA Tournament in 2019 — the most recent NCAA Women's Tennis Tournament.
"Preseason week of training and competition could not have gone better for us," said head coach Sujay Lama. "We saw tremendous growth both in practice and in the tournament at TCU. Everyone competed at a very high level."
At the end of the tournament the Mean Green were led once again by its senior Nidhi Surapaneni who again on Monday picked up another big singles victory. Surapaneni beat the Texas A&M Aggie's Jayci Goldsmith in comeback fashion. After dropping the first set, Surapaneni won the second set convincingly and battle tough a grueling third set tiebreak to pull out the vicory.
UNT newcomer Lucie Devier made a name for herself in the tournament. The junior beat a Texas A&M opponent on Sunday and a TCU opponent on Saturday. On Monday, Devier fell narrowly in a tiebreak to the Aggie's Tatiana Makarova who is the No. 99 ranked player in the nation and her team's No. 1 player.
"The work Nidhi and Lucie put in off season showed up in their inspiring performances this weekend," Lama said. "Both of them had big wins against strong opponents."
In addition to their singles success, Surapaneni and Devier won a doubles match together on Saturday.
Also having excellent performances this weekend were Saki Oyama and Kexuan Zhou.
Oyama won two singles matches over the three days, both in straight sets and over the defending Southland Conference champs. Right there with Oyama was her teammate Zhou.
Zhou beat a Texas A&M opponent on Sunday in a resilient third set tiebreaker. She also beat a Central Arkansas opponent in dominating style, 6-0, 6-2.
"Kexuan showed a glimpse of what she is capable of with hard work she is capable of being an impact player," Lama said. "Saki competed well and is getting comfortable with college tennis. When she is invested she is a force to reckon with."
Sophomore Sophia Hummel returned to the court this weekend from an injury that kept her out from training all of last semester. Despite that, Hummel had a huge victory on Sunday over a Texas A&M opponent. In addition to Sunday's singles win, Hummel and Oyama won their doubles match on Sunday.
"It was great to see Sophia back after her surgery," Lama said. "She was able to shake off her rust. You can see her maturity in the way she competed this weekend."
UNT is scheduled to start its spring season on Sunday at Texas.
Doubles
Jayci Goldsmith/Tatiana Makarova (Texas A&M) def. Nidhi Surapaneni/Lucie Devier (North Texas) 6-4
Riley McQuaid/Jessica Anzo (Texas A&M) def. Saki Oyama/Sophia Hummel (North Texas) 6-1
Singles
Tatiana Makarova (Texas A&M) def. Lucie Devier (North Texas) 2-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-7)
Nidhi Surapaneni (North Texas) def. Jayci Goldsmith (Texas A&M) 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-8)
Riley McQuaid (Texas A&M) def. Kexuan Zhou (North Texas) 6-0, 6-2
Isa Di Laura (Texas A&M) def. Sophia Hummel (North Texas) 6-2, 6-1
Elise Robbins (Texas A&M) def. Saki Oyama (North Texas) 6-2, 6-3
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
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