The No. 33 SMU women’s tennis team (15-2) will play a pair of home matches this weekend against No. 19 Virginia Commonwealth University (12-2) and Conference USA rival Southern Mississippi University (7-6).
The Mustangs have won three matches straight, after dropping only their second event of the season to the University of Texas two weeks ago. Since then, SMU has tallied victories over Texas A&M, Penn State and Abilene Christian.
However, SMU is facing a tough match-up in the Virginia Commonwealth Rams, who recently defeated former No. 25 Virginia. The Rams are on a nine-match winning streak; their last loss occurred back in January to No. 7 Duke University.
Following that match, the Mustangs then take the court against the Southern Miss Golden Eagles. The Eagles’ record might be mediocre, but their play of late has been nothing to scoff at. Southern Miss is on a three-match winning streak, but even more impressive is the fact that they have not dropped a single game within that streak.
SMU will continue to look to their sophomore duo, Marta Lesniak and Aleksandra Malyarchikova, to anchor the team. Lesniak, ranked No. 59, has been flawless in the No. 1 singles position, winning all 15 matches that she has played this season.
“This Marta is more focused and determined, and it shows in her results and how she is beating every nationally ranked player she comes up against,” head coach Lauren Longbotham-Mesiner said.
Malyarchikova, playing as the No. 3 singles lately, dropped her first singles match of the season in the team’s victory over Texas A&M. However, she recovered nicely in the match against Penn State.
“Sasha suffered a tough loss against Texas A&M, but just as I predicted, it didn’t phase her one bit and she rebounded for her next match and played really well,” Longbotham-Mesiner said.
The Mustangs have also been consistent in their doubles game, winning 11 of their last 12 matches. On the season, SMU is 30-9 in doubles matches.
SMU will need to be at the top of their game in order to upset VCU and then turn right back around and take care of business against the Golden Eagles. The match against the Rams will be at noon on Saturday, March 20, and the match against Southern Miss is at 10 a.m. on Sunday, March 21.
