Mean Green take down UTSA, Earn First Win Over Ranked Opponent Since 2016

DENTON, Texas – For the first time since the 2016 spring season, the UNT women's tennis team took down a ranked opponent as they knocked off No. 70 UTSA 4-1 and followed it up with a 7-0 win over Cowley County to complete the sweep Saturday at the Waranch Tennis Complex.

The Mean Green last knocked off a ranked team on Feb. 14, 2016, when they defeated No. 36 Oklahoma 4-1 in Denton. With the doubleheader sweep, UNT improves to 8-5 on the season.

In the match against UTSA, UNT started things off by winning the doubles point with strong victories at lines one and two.

Olivia Malm and Stanislava Shulzhenko started things off with a 6-2 win at line one while Stadfany Nformi and Lilly Schultz won 6-4 to put the Mean Green up 1-0.

In singles play, Shulzhenko was dominant with a 6-1, 6-1 win in straight sets at line three to give UNT its second point of the match.

Shortly after, Malm made the score 3-0 in favor of North Texas with a strong 6-2, 6-2 victory at line one.

Needing one more point to seal the win, the matchups at lines two, four, five and six all went to a third set.

Nformi was the first to pull her match out for the Mean Green, rallying after dropping the second set to win 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 and give UNT the victory.

In addition, both Lilly Schultz and Lou Chalard showed promise in the third set of their matchups before the match was halted.

Chalard dropped the opening set 4-6 before winning the second 6-2 but was behind 2-4 in the third. Schultz, meanwhile, rallied in a big way after falling in the opening set 2-6 and trailing 2-5 in the second set to make final linescore 2-6, 7-6 (7-0), 2-0.

In the second matchup of the day, UNT was dominant against a Cowley County program that has finished inside the top-five in the NJCAA National Tournament each of the past four years.

In doubles, Shulzhenko and Malm picked up their second victory of the day, 6-4, at line one. Nformi and Chalard, meanwhile, also picked up a 6-4 victory at line two to give the Mean Green a 1-0 lead.

North Texas then won every singles matchup in fairly dominant fashion, winning in straight sets in five of the six singles contests.

Schultz was the first to pick up a victory, winning 6-1, 6-2 at line five, followed by a 6-1, 6-3 victory at line three by Chalard to make the score 3-0.

Playing at line six, Marina Adati had the clinching point for UNT, winning 6-1, 6-4.

Shulzhenko (6-0, 6-4) and Nformi (6-3, 6-3) both finished their wins in straight sets to give the Mean Green a 6-0 advantage with one match to play.

The one remaining match featured Carolina Laydner, who won the opening set 6-1 before dropping the second 4-6 at line four. The match would go to a winner-take-all 10-point tiebreak, and Laydner completed the sweep for UNT by winning the tiebreak 10-6.

The Mean Green return to action Wednesday when they travel to Arlington, Texas, to take on UTA at 2:00 PM.

-- GMG --

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