The SMU women’s tennis team snapped a seven-game losing streak on Thursday with a narrow 4-3 victory over Arkansas State at Turpin Tennis Stadium.
Coming off a weekend loss to Rice, SMU returned to its home court Thursday afternoon to settle its season record back to .500.
The Mustangs’ win over Arkansas also ended the Razorbacks’ five-game winning streak.
SMU’s only ranked doubles team, No. 41 Natalia Bubien and Pavi Francis, stretched its winning streak to six matches and its overall record to 13-4 with an 8-1 victory over Renee Branker and Emily Laing in the No. 1 match.
With their win, Bubien and Francis improved to 13-4 on the season, winning eight of their last 11 games.
The pair will look to keep rolling and hope the Mustangs (9-9) will do the same when the team concludes its regular season with a Sunday morning matchup against Louisiana-Lafayette at Turpin Tennis Stadium.
Then the team will begin the Conference USA Championships on April 17 in Houston. SMU fell in the tournament’s quarterfinals last season and is 1-2 against conference opponents this spring.
Bubien and Francis’ win knocked ASU’s Paula Chelminksa off a six-match winning streak before arriving in Dallas.
Chelminksa and partner Maria Oprea, who had won all four of their last doubles matches were knocked down to 11-5 overall.
The team of Bubien and Francis was the Mustangs’ only winning doubles pair on Thursday. The No. 2 team of Nicole Briceno and Kristen Reid and the No. 3 duo of Sarah Acosta and Jordan Hamilton each fell by 8-6 scores.
Acosta and Norman both lost in what was just their second collegiate appearance of the season.
The Mustangs rebounded to win four of the six singles competitions.
In the No. 1 match, Bubien, ranked No. 88 in the country, easily defeated Maria Oprea 6-4, 6-0. At No. 2, Francis ended Chelminska’s six-match winning streak with a 6-2, 6-3 victory. Bubien and Francis are each 10-7 in singles matches this season.
No. 3 Briceno won a first-set tiebreaker and mopped up in the second set against Rone Van Wyk. No. 4 Reid provided the winning point with a three-set victory over Renee Branker, 2-6, 6-0, 6-3.
Hamilton and Acosta each fell in straight sets in the Nos. 5 and 6 matches, respectively.
The Mustangs will end regular season play on April 13 at the SMU courts when they host Louisiana-Lafayette.
Proceeding the regular season, SMU will travel to Houston to compete in the Conference USA Women’s Tennis Championships.
