Tennis teams serve up wins (Photo By John Schreiber, The Daily Campus)

It was a weekend full of tennis for SMU as the men played three matches and the women played two.

The men increased their winning streak to 7-0, giving them their best start since the 2000-01 season.

The women won both their matches, making them 6-2 on the season.

Both of the SMU teams had more difficulty with the frigid weather conditions than their opponents as the men took on both Prairie View A&M and Centenary University on Saturday and then Grambling State on Sunday.

The women defeated Prairie View A&M on Saturday and Mississippi State on Sunday.

The weather on Saturday was the most difficult with temperatures around freezing and winds gusting over 25mph.

“These are the worst conditions we’ve ever played in,” men’s coach Carl Neufeld said. It didn’t seem to matter to the Mustangs, who had no trouble downing all four teams.

The men started off against Prairie View on Saturday morning. Grand Prairie is at the top of its SWAC conference, but was still not much trouble for the Mustang men.

SMU swept the match 7-0 and prepared for the afternoon contest against Centenary.

The women were next to take on Prairie View. It was a clean win for the Mustangs, who only gave up six sets total.

The women of Prairie View were obviously not prepared for the hard hitting Mustangs who closed the match at 7-0.

Centenary College was the final opponent for the men on Saturday. SMU won every match. Peter Oredsson, who played No. 1 singles for SMU, finished his match versus Centenary’s Josh Pinto before other matches had even finished their first sets.

The men showed no signs of strain despite playing two matches in one day under harsh conditions.

“Playing three matches in two days prepares them for the conference championships later in the season. It’s physical and mental conditioning,” Neufeld said.

Federico Murgier returned to the court this weekend after a short stint on the injury list.

He joined partner Henrik Soderberg in doubles against Prairie View and Grambling, as well as winning the No. 2 singles spot over Grambling State’s Jamon Clayton on Sunday.

Sunday proved to be a much better day for tennis as far as the weather was concerned.

Ample sun and less wind allowed both SMU teams to put their best foot forward.

The women faced Mississippi State. This was a tougher match up than the day before, but SMU prevailed, winning 5-2.

The only singles loss was Natalia Bubien at No. 1. However, it wasn’t for a lack of effort on her part. Bubien’s opponent Anastasia Kugakolova was consistent in every aspect of her game, rarely letting a ball go unreturned.

At the No. 2 spot, Svetlana Kouzmenko used her strength and grace to overpower Marina Banikova of Mississippi State.

Banikova had a weak and inconsistent serve that Kouzmenko used to her advantage. She took the match 6-2, 6-0.

Freshman Kristen Reid stepped up and played an aggressive match at the No. 4 position.

“Kristen did really well in the fall. We’ve been rotating her in at the bottom three spots and she’s done well. She’s an aggressive player,” women’s assistant coach Lauren Longbotham said.

Reid’s tenacity brought her a 6-4, 6-4 victory over MSU’s Daniela Juskova.

The women play again Wednesday February 15 at TCU. The men take on the University of Texas in Austin Sunday February 19 at 1pm.