No. 37 SMU Women’s Tennis Beats No. 62 FIU
MIAMI (SMU) – The No. 37 SMU Women’s Tennis team claimed a hard-fought 6-1 victory over No. 62 Florida International on Sunday, giving the team 15 wins against just 4 losses this spring.
The Mustangs claimed the doubles point to take the early lead and then battled through early adversity to win at singles spots one through five.
In doubles, the duo of Marta Lesniak and Aleksandra Malyarchikova dropped just their fourth tilt of 2011 at the top line, falling to Liset Brito and Maria Spenceley, 8-2.
Edyta Cieplucha and Heather Steinbauer pulled things even when they took out Giuletta Boha and Rita Maisak at No. 2, 8-3, while Shahzoda Hatamova and Kris Roberts clinched the doubles point with just their third victory on the season.
The tandem took out Lisa Johnson and Christine Seredni at No. 3, 8-5.
The Panthers came out strong in singles and raced to leads on five of the six singles courts, including having first-set leads of 5-2, 4-1 and 4-1 at lines two, three and five.
FIU then evened the score briefly at one apiece when Boha defeated Roberts at No. 6, 6-1, 6-0.
But, as has been the case all spring, Malyarchikova took care of business to give her team the 2-1 advantage. The junior from Belarus made quick work of Spenceley, winning 6-1, 6-2, at No. 4. Malyarchikova improved to 16-1 this spring with the win.
Lesniak, the nation’s No. 9 singles player, brought SMU to the brink of victory with a solid 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 57 Brito at No. 1. Lesniak is now 16-2 this spring and 34-5 overall this season. She has won 12 matches in a row and ran her record against nationally ranked opponents to 16-4.
For the second day in a row, Hatamova clinched the Mustang win when she closed out Maisak at No. 5, 7-6 (7-1), 6-3.
After facing the aforementioned early deficits, both Steinbauer and Cieplucha battled back to win at the top of the lineup to make the final tally 6-1.
Steinbauer downed Johnson at No. 3, 7-5, 7-6 (7-3), while Cieplucha also needed a second-set tie-breaker to beat Seredni at No. 2, 7-5, 7-6 (7-4).
“This was without a doubt the toughest 6-1 win I’ve ever been a part of,” said head coach Lauren Longbotham Meisner. “It was very hot and humid out there today, and I think we let that bother us early. I am very proud of how we battled back and responded though. The girls never got rattled, dug down deep and just fought their way back in it. This was a hard-fought win against a really good team. We earned this one today.”
By going 2-0 on the Florida road trip, Meisner improved her career record to 97-27 (.782). The fifth-year head coach broke the program’s career wins record last weekend and is on pace to become the first women’s tennis coach to notch 100 career wins.
SMU returns to courts this Tuesday when they host cross-town rival No. 65 TCU at the Turpin Tennis Center. First serve against the Horned Frogs is set for 2:00 p.m. CT.
