Since a Feb. 4 win over the University of Texas-San Antonio, the women’s tennis team (10-8, 0-2 WAC) fell on hard times, losing seven of eight by the time most students were returning from spring break last weekend.

The Mustangs did, however, put the brakes on a four-game road-losing streak when they defeated the University of California-Santa Barbara by a score of 5-2 Sunday on the West Coast.

Tuesday afternoon, the team returned to campus to host the Marquette Golden Eagles (3-11) with the hopes of building on a 7-4 record at home. Favoring the team was the fact that the Golden Eagles reveled a lineup solely comprised of freshmen and sophomores.

The women made the best of home-field advantage right from the start, led by the No. 2 doubles pair of Lynsie Jones and Svetlana Kouzmenko. The duo took down Marquette’s Maria Calbeto and Callan Smith by a score of 8-6.

Seniors Jenny Langer and Allison Leuszler followed suit, keeping opponents Dominika Dabrowski and Erin Watkins in check, 8-3.

Twin sisters Brooke and Halley Rambally followed with an 8-4 win over the Golden Eagles’ Andrea Bukacek and Elsemieke Dokter to clinch the doubles point.

The good times continued to roll when the Rambally sisters, along with senior Jones, helped SMU to a 4-0 lead halfway through the singles sets.

Marquette garnered their lone point of the afternoon when Calbeto defeated sophomore Jennifer Chay by scores of 6-3 and 6-2.

Experience would prevail, however, as seniors Langer and Leuszler edged out their underclassmen opponents to give the Mustangs a 6-1 victory.

SMU will try for its first three-game winning streak since late January when the team hosts the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns (4-5) Friday at 2 p.m. Conference play resumes on Sunday when the University of Texas-El Paso Miners (5-7, 1-1 WAC) visit the Hilltop at 10 a.m.

Both games will be played at Haggar Tennis Stadium.