Tennis Snaps Skid With Sweep Of Missouri State

Saturday, March 20

Denton

9:30 AM

University of North Texas

Missouri State

Photo by: Rick Yeatts Photography

3/20/2021 11:57:00 AM | Women's Tennis

Box Score

DENTON - It's been a rough month for the Mean Green tennis team, but on Saturday morning at the Waranch Tennis Complex, they took out their frustrations on Missouri State with a 4-0 win over the Bears to snap a six-match skid.

The Mean Green breezed to a doubles point with 6-1 wins by the teams of Lucie Devier and Nidhi Surapaneni and Saki Oyama and Sophia Hummel, and then had three singles sweeps by Maria Ponomareva in the No. 1 slot, Surapaneni in the No. 3 match and Kexuan Zhou in the No. 4 match - that last of which clinched the match for the Mean Green.

"A win feels good, yeah," Surapaneni said. "It's been frustrating. We know we're trying our best and giving our best, but we still haven't been able to get the job done on the court so it was kind of frustrating. It was like, 'What is going on?' We've been doing all we can with the preparations. We're there, but we weren't able to pull it off before today, but this one? This felt good."

Surapaneni followed her 6-1 doubles victory with Devier by being the first to win a singles match as she defeated Taylor Shaw 6-1, 6-3.

"Our opponents, both of them were a little tricky," she said. "In doubles, we just focused on getting the ball inside the court and finishing at the right moment.. Even my singles match, that girl was a little tricky. She was hitting the ball very flat, so I was sticking to my basics and doing what I could do best, and that worked."

The Mean Green will next host Midwestern State at 5 p.m. on Tuesday before getting back into Conference USA play when they host Louisiana Tech on Friday at 3 p.m..

"Obviously, winning is kind of contagious, so hopefully we can carry it on to the next match," Surapaneni said.

Singles results
1. PONOMAREVA, Maria (UNT) def. Hana Sisirak (MSU) 6-4, 6-1
2. DEVIER, Lucie (UNT) vs. Tiffani Nash (MSU) 6-4, 1-6, 1-1, unfinished
3. SURAPANENI, Nidhi (UNT) def. Taylor Shaw (MSU) 6-1, 6-3
4. ZHOU, Kexuan (UNT) def. Mary Houston (MSU) 7-6 (7-4), 6-1
5. OYAMA, Saki (UNT) vs. Alyson Piskulic (MSU) 4-6, 6-3, 2-0, unfinished
6. HUMMEL, Sophia (UNT) vs. Claire Martin (MSU) 5-7, 3-5, unfinished

Doubles results
1. SURAPANENI, Nidhi/DEVIER, Lucie (UNT) def. Hana Sisirak/Alyson Piskulic (MSU) 6-1
2. ZHOU, Kexuan/PONOMAREVA, Maria (UNT) vs. Ellie Burger/Claire Martin (MSU) 1-5, unfinished
3. HUMMEL, Sophia/OYAMA, Saki (UNT) def. Tiffani Nash/Mary Houston (MSU) 6-1

Match Notes: Missouri State 5-8 North Texas 3-9
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (3,1,4)