Tennis Drops 4-3 Heartbreaker to North Texas

MIAMI – Liz Stefancic earned her first career win over a ranked opponent and was joined in the win column by Madi Ballow and Daniela Dankanych but North Texas (8-4, 3-0 C-USA) defeated Marshall (2-9, 0-3 C-USA) Saturday in a neutral-site match, 4-3.

"It's a tough loss for us but we're making progress as a team," head coach John Mercer said.

Marshall nearly captured the doubles point, taking the Mean Green to the brink. Victoria Walter and Matilde Mulatero were victorius on court 3, 6-1. North Texas took the other two matches, as the pairing of Maria Kononova and Tamuna Kutubidze, ranked 26th in the nation, defeated the Herd's Anna Smith and Dankanych, 6-4, while Ballow and Stefancic fell in a tiebreaker to Alexandra Heczey and Ivana Babic, 7-6, to give North Texas the opening point.

The Thundering Herd split the six singles matches, showing continued improvement in the process. Stefancic defeated the No. 114 player in the nation, Minying Liang, in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4. Ballow defeated Nidhi Surapaneni, 7-5, 6-3, while Dankanych defeated Heczey in straights, 7-5, 6-3.

Smith was defeated by Kutubidze, ranked 57th in the nation, 6-3, 6-1, while Walter fell to Kononova by the same 6-3, 6-1 score. Mulatero was defeated by Babic in the last singles match, 6-3, 6-0.

RESULTS
Singles
1. No. 57 Tamuna Kutubidze (NT) def. Anna Smith (MAR) 6-3, 6-1
2. Maria Kononova (NT) def. Victoria Walter (MAR) 6-3, 6-1
3. Daniela Dankanych (MAR) def. Alexandra Heczey (NT) 6-3, 7-5
4. Madi Ballow (MAR) def. Nidhi Surapaneni (NT) 7-5, 6-3
5. Liz Stefancic (MAR) def. No. 114 Minying Liang (NT) 6-4, 6-4
6. Ivana Babic (NT) def. Matilde Mulatero (MAR) 6-3, 6-0
Doubles
1. #26 Tamuna Kutubidze/Maria Kononova (NT) def. Daniela Dankanych/Anna Smith (MAR) 6-4
2. Ivana Babic/Alexandra Heczey (NT) def. Madi Ballow/Liz Stefancic (MAR) 7-6
3. Matilde Mulatero/Victoria Walter (MAR) def. Minying Liang/Nidhi Surapaneni (NT) 6-1

UP NEXT
The Herd is off until March 10, when it heads back on the road to face in-state rival West Virginia in Morgantown.

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Team Stats

Players Mentioned

Madi Ballow

Daniela Dankanych

Matilde Mulatero

Anna Smith

Liz Stefancic

Victoria Walter