After falling to the Tulsa Golden Hurricane Saturday, the Lady Tigers tennis team rebounded with a convincing 5-2 victory Sunday over Southern Methodist University.
The Lady Tigers started the day quickly, earning the doubles point. The No. 60 doubles team of Rocio Fanitilli and Lauren Seaman defeated Kit Carson and Suetlana Kouzmenko, 8-3. Soon after, Camili Caliari and Daysi Espinal defeated the SMU tandem of Nadia Vaughn and Paige Evans to clinch the doubles point.
In singles play, Fantilli, ranked 116th in singles competition, defeated Carson in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4. Teammates Mariana Chiarelli, Espinal and Caliari followed suit in earning singles victories. With the victory, the Lady Tigers improved to 6-3 this season.
“We’re really maturing,” said Tony Minnis, the women’s tennis head coach. “We played really hard. SMU is very good and it was a hard-fought match. I was really proud of the way we came through.”
It was a different story Saturday for the Lady Tigers. Amanda Mang, Espinal and Caliari won singles matches to begin the evening. The Lady Tigers went into doubles play tied with Tulsa, 3-3.
But in doubles play, the Lady Tigers faltered. Aleksandra Durska and Alicia Pillay defeated Fantilli and Seaman, 8-4. Jessica Ferguson and Mang then lost to the Tulsa tandem of Mariana Barrios and Donata Majauskaite, 8-6. Tulsa won the match, 4-3.
The men’s tennis team also hosted Saturday the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. The Tigers bounced back after last weekend’s loss to Texas A&M with a 6-1 victory over the Golden Hurricane. The Tigers improved to 6-1 this season with the win.
In a minor upset, the No. 24 doubles team of Bryan Fisher and Jason Hazley defeated No. 19 Dustin Taylor and Ryan Livesay of Tulsa, 8-4. Also, Fisher and Hazley won their singles matches in straight sets to finish the evening.
“I think that we’re playing some of our best tennis right now,” said Jeff Brown, men’s tennis head coach. “It feels good to be playing well heading into SEC competition.”
Both Tiger teams start Southeastern Conference play next weekend.
The men’s tennis team hosts Alabama Friday and Auburn Sunday at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium.
The Lady Tigers travel to face Alabama on Friday and Auburn on Sunday.
“That’s the beauty of playing a tough schedule,” Minnis said. “We’ve been playing SEC-like teams in [Texas] A&M and Florida State and Tulsa and SMU. It gets us ready for the competition.”