SMU’s No. 33 women’s tennis team won three out of their four events during Spring Break,  beating Texas A&M, Penn State and Abilene Christian.

The first win of the break was against No. 56 Texas A&M (5-2) in College Station on March 9. They took the doubles point, sweeping all three doubles matches.

SMU Head Coach Lauren Longbotham-Meisner said, “A&M has really good doubles. So, for us to fight hard after being down at No. 2 in doubles and come back and clinch the point was really awesome.”

The victories against A&M came from sophomore Marta Lesniak (6-4, 6-3), freshmen Shahzoda Hatamova (6-2, 6-2), Edyta Cieplucha (2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2) and senior Pavi Francis (7-5, 6-2).

“It was a long match,” Longbotham-Meisner said, “but the team conducted themselves well on the court and didn’t give up. It wasn’t our prettiest performance, but it was a really big team effort in a tough atmosphere.”

The Mustangs took two home wins March 12. The team swept all six doubles matches of the day and didn’t lose any singles matches against Penn State, winning 7-0. They then won three of six singles matches against Abilene Christian University (4-3).

SMU lost 4-3, ending its eight-match winning streak against then No. 33 University of Texas in Austin March 6. The Longhorns earned the doubles point with two of three doubles wins and the teams split singles matches. The Mustangs’ three wins came from Lesniak, Francis and sophomore Aleksandra Malyarchikova.

Lesniak won her match 6-0, 3-6, 6-4. She was named Conference USA women’s player of the week last Tuesday. She is ranked No. 59 in the ITA rankings and has been honored as C-USA player of the week twice before. Malyarchikova won her match 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 and Francis won in straight sets 6-3, 7-6 (5).

Next up, SMU will host No. 19 Virginia Commonwealth on March 20 at 12 p.m. They will then face Southern Miss. at 10 a.m. on March 21.