Amid weekend high temperatures that barely crept into the upper 40s, the men’s and women’s tennis teams each played host to three separate competitors, and both played well.
Saturday against the University of Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns, SMU’s No. 1 duo of senior Paul McNaughton and sophomore Federico Murgier led off with an 8-2 defeat of UL-L’s Corduneanu and Tabak.
After sophomore Federico Murgier put the game out of hand and solidified a 4-3 SMU win with scores of 6-2, 4-6 and 6-4 over the Ragin’ Cajuns’, head coach Carl Neufeld commented on the play of two particular upperclassmen.
“It was a very exciting match,” Neufeld said in a post-game press release. “It was great to see Gwinyai Chingoka and Paul McNaughton play the matches of their lives entering their senior years.”
On Sunday against Texas Southern University, Chingoka shined once again, racking up a near-perfect match (6-2, 6-0) against Martin Knobloch.
The Mustangs walked away with a 7-0 victory.
Against Prairie View A&M, SMU came out firing on all cylinders, taking all three doubles matches from the Panthers (8-3, 8-2 and 8-2), en route to a 7-0 win. With an overall record of 5-0, the team will be in action again this Saturday beginning at 12 p.m. against the University of Texas Longhorns at Haggar Tennis Stadium.
The women also improved upon an already strong reputation this weekend, beginning on Saturday against Sam Houston State University.
Top performers were sisters Brooke and Halley Rambally, who took out a Sam Houston duo by a combined total of 24-4 in singles matches. The Ponies won easily, 6-1.
Sunday afternoon, the ladies hit the court once again, this time against in-state opponents Texas Southern University, and the Lady Tigers stood little chance.
Svetlana Kouzmenko came out of the gate strong against Prairie View A&M as well, setting the stage for an almost flawless set of singles matches. The team easily rode to a 7-0 win.
At 4-0, the women take on the Tulsa Golden Hurricane and OSU Cowboys in Tulsa, Okla. this weekend.
