After suffering an ugly loss to Stanford, the nation’s No. 1 ranked team, the No. 28 SMU Women’s Tennis Team bounced back with a pair of victories over Louisiana Lafayette and Louisville on Sunday morning at Turpin Tennis Stadium.

The Mustangs earned the wins by scores of 5-1 and 7-0, respectively and improved to 7-2 overall on the season. SMU opened up play against Louisiana Lafayette which featured only singles matches.

SMU displayed their early dominance over the Ragin’ Cajuns as the Mustangs jumped out to a 2-0 lead behind the nation’s No. 2 player Marta Lesniak and her doubles partner Aleksandra Malyarchikova.

Lesniak and Malyarchikova made quick work of their opponents as both were off the courts just thirty minutes into the match. Malyarchikova shut out Milou Israel, 6-0, 6-0 while Lesniak dominated Audrey Wooland, 6-2, 6-2 at the top singles line.

Louisianna Lafayette appeared to be back in the thick of things as Mia Gordon defeated SMU freshman Kris Roberts, 6-1, 6-1 to cut SMU’s lead to 2-1. However, SMU bounced back with three straight victories.

SMU sophomore Edyta Cieplucha breezed by Julie Mazinova 6-0, 6-1 and Ashley Turpin earned the win over Sandra Ahlqvist 6-4, 6-0 to make the score 4-1. Heather Stainbauer defeated Briggitt Marcovich in a tight 7-6, 6-4 battle to clinch the 5-1 victory for the Mustangs.

SMU saw similar success against Louisville, as the Mustangs came out strong in a doubles play to claim the early 1-0 behind the dynamic duo of Lesniak and Malyarchikova.

SMU’s top pair jumped out to a 7-1 lead against the No. 33 pair of Julia Fellerhoff and Becca Shine and earned their first win against a nationally ranked opponent, 8-4. The duo improved their record to 4-3 on the spring season.

Cieplucha and Steinbauer improved to 6-1 this season after defeating Amelia Harris and Stafanie Villejuan, 8-3. Turpin and Shahzoda Hatamova picked up the win over Sarah Miller and Gabbrielle Duncan, 8-4 as the Mustangs earned the doubles point.

Lesniak improved to 6-2 this spring and 24-5 overall as she proved why she is the nation’s No.2 ranked player when she domintaed Fellerhoff at 6-3, 6-1. The junior suffered a quick scare as she began the match down 3-0 but regained her confidence and reeled off 12 wins in 13 games.

Cieplucha earned a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Shine and Turpin clinched the match for SMU when she defeated Miller 6-2, 6-0 which gave the Mustangs a 4-0 lead.

Steinbauer and Malyarchikova also claimed victories for the Mustangs and added two points to the SMU lead making the score 6-0. Hatamova, secured the sweep for SMU with her 7-6, 6-1 win over Sonia Bokhar.

SMU returns to the courts on Sunday at noon when they host LSU at Turpin Tennis Stadium.