No. 27 SMU Women’s Tennis Sweeps UTSA to Conclude Opening Weekend 3-0

DALLAS (SMU) – The No. 27 SMU Women’s Tennis rolled to a 3-0 opening weekend after it swept UT-San Antonio on Sunday, 7-0.

Just as they did all weekend, the Mustangs took the early lead by claiming the doubles point.

The pair of Edyta Cieplucha and Heather Steinbauer were first off the courts for the second day in a row when they dispatched of Micaela Silva and Caroline Dedering, 8-3, at No. 2. SMU’s No. 3 pair of Shahzoda Hatamova and Ashley Turpin clinched the doubles point once again for SMU with their 8-2 victory over Kavya Menon and Mariel Mafefezzolli.

Just a few seconds later, Marta Lesniak and Aleksandra Malyarchikova staked SMU to the doubles sweep when they downed Stefanie Peana and Isabella Jonsson, 8-2, at the top doubles line.

Lesniak, the nation’s second ranked player, made quick work of Peana at the top singles line to give SMU the quick 2-0 lead. The junior from Poland easily won 6-0, 6-1 to improve to 20-3 on the season overall and 2-0 in dual match play.

Steinbauer was next to finish as she also made quick work of Silva, winning 6-0, 6-0. Cieplucha clinched the match for SMU with her 6-2, 6-2 win over Jonsson at No. 2

Hatamova also had little trouble at the No. 4 spot for the Mustangs as she whipped Dedering, 6-1, 6-0 for SMU’s fifth point. Turpin won a gritty match at No. 5 for her second win in a Mustang uniform, taking out Menon, 6-4, 6-3.

Making her first appearance in the lineup for her Mustang career, freshman Kris Roberts earned her first collegiate win over Ottenbriat at No. 6, 7-6(5), 6-4.

“Today was another solid effort by everyone in the lineup,” said head coach Lauren Longbotham Meisner. “This was a long weekend and I thought we stayed focused for all the matches and took care of business. Now that we have a few matches behind us and we can work on some things this week and begin to focus on the competition that we will face at the ITA Kick-Off weekend. We are excited to be playing in such a great event and our goal is to come back to Dallas with two wins and a berth in the ITA Indoors.”

The team returns to action January 30-31 at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Knoxville, Tenn. The Mustangs are seeded third at the four-team event where they will play against second-seeded Mississippi on Sunday. Two matches are guaranteed and the winners/losers will play each other on Monday.

The 15 schools that win both of their matches at these events will be invited to play in the Feb. 18-21 ITA National Team Indoor Championship hosted by the Univ. of Virginia at the Boar’s Head Sports Club.

SMU 7, UT-San Antonio 0 
DOUBLES
1. Lesniak/Malyarchikova def. Peana/Jonsson, 8-5
2. Steinbauer/Cieplucha def. Silva/Dedering, 8-3
3. Turpin/Hatamova def. Menon/Maffezolli, 8-2
order of finish: 2, 3, 1

SINGLES
1. No. 2Marta Lesniak def. Stefanie Peana, 6-0, 6-1
2. Edyta Cieplucha def. Isabelle Jonsson, 6-2, 6-2
3. Heather Steinbauer def. Micaela Silva, 6-0, 6-0
4. Shahzoda Hatamova def. Caroline Dedering, 6-1, 6-0 
5. Ashley Turpin def. Kavya Menon, 6-4, 6-3
6. Kris Roberts def. Katie Ottenbreit, 7-6 (5), 6-4
order of finish: 1, 3, 2, 4, 5, 6