After two back to back matches that came down to the final point, the No. 27 SMU women’s tennis team defeated No. 57 Oklahoma State University in less than dramatic fashion, 4-1.
With the Sunday afternoon road win in Oklahoma City, the Mustangs move to 5-1 overall this Spring season.
Things did not look good early in doubles play for SMU as their top team of Marta Lesniak and Aleksandra Malyarchikova suffered an 8-5 loss to Oklahoma State’s duo of Kanyapat Narattana and Nataliya Shatkovskaya.
Weather affected SMU’s ability to practice all week, but the team made no excuses for rusty play and came back to win the next two doubles matches that required perseverance and clutch play.
The Mustang pair of Ashley Turpin and Shahzoda Hatamova jumped out to an early 5-2 lead over Sarah Meghoufel and Sasha Belova, but the Cowgirl team stormed back to make things interesting.
However, Turpin and Hatamova held on for an 8-6 victory which improved their overall record to 4-2 this spring.
The match of the day came when SMU’s No. 2 doubles team of Edyta Cieplucha and Heather Steinbaurer faced a 4-1 deficit at the hands of Oklahoma State’s team of C.C. Sardinha and Malika Rose.
The SMU pair rallied and went on a 4-1 run of their own to tie the match at 5 all.
The Cowgirls later regained the lead 7-6, but failed to close out the match as Cieplucha and Steinbaurer earned the last three points of the match and came away with a thrilling 9-7 win to secure the doubles point for the Mustangs.
SMU continued their dominance over Oklahoma State in singles play as the Mustangs made quick work of the Cowgirls by winning five out of six matches.
Lesniak, the nation’s No.2 ranked player, bounced back from the doubles loss with an overpowering performance, defeating Belova 6-0, 6-1 at the top singles line. Lesniak moves to 5-1 this spring season and 22-4 overall.
Lesniak’s doubles partner Malyarchikova also recovered nicely and clinched a Mustang victory in singles play with her 6-1, 7-5 win over Shatkovskaya. Malyarchikovam, a junior from Belarus, remains undefeated this spring season with a 5-0 record.
In other singles play, Rose prevented a Mustang sweep with her 6-2, 6-2 win over Turpin. However, Steinbaurer, Cieplucha and Hatamova all picked up wins for SMU. Steinbaurer defeated Meghoufel 6-3, 6-3 while Cieplucha took care of Sardinha 2-6, 6-4, 4-1 (DNF) and Hatamova handled Narattana with ease 7-5, 3-1 (DNF).
Both Ciepluch and Hatamova’s matches were stopped once SMU reached 4 points.
The Mustangs travel to Palo Alto, California to they take on the nation’s top-ranked Stanford Cardinal in a highly anticipated match on Thursday.
