COLLEGE STATION, Texas — The defending Texas Regional champion Mean Green tennis team begins the run to defend its title Thursday, though they will do so with its new look squad.

After three straight seasons of reaching the semifinals of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Texas Regional doubles draw, 2019 graduates Maria Kononova and Tamuna Kutubidze finally broke through last October and not only reached the championship round but won it all. Earning the program's first ever regional title and giving the doubles team an automatic bid into the NCAA Fall National Tournament.

Furthermore, their regional championship eventually gave them an at-large bid into the spring national tournament, making them the first doubles team to reach that.

However, with Kutubidze and Kononova graduated, North Texas will have to defend its 2018 title with someone else.

Senior Alexandra Heczey last season also made waves at the Texas Regional as she and her doubles partner upset and knocked off the No.1 overall seed in the doubles draw in the round of 32..

This year, Heczey is paired with freshman Hala Khaled Badwy.

The duo will face a Abilene Christian University team in the first round and if they win will face the No. 5 overall seed from Texas who earned a first round bye.

Heczey like the Mean Green's other two returners are paired with newcomer teammates in the doubles draw. Senior Haruka Sasaki and freshman Sophia Hummel are also matched up against an Abilene Christian doubles team in the first round. 

Meanwhile, junior Nidhi Surapaneni and transfer Maria Ponomareva will face a Houston doubles team in their first round match. 

Freshmen Louisa Junghanns and Kexuan Zhou will play together and open the tournament against TCU in the first round. 

There will be no early round upset opportunity this year for the Mean Green as none of the UNT doubles teams are drawn to face either the No. 1 or No. 2 overall seeds until the semifinal round if both get that far. 
 
In the singles tournament, the first round features tons of eye catching matches for the Mean Green.

Surapaneni and Heczey face off against familiar foes from SMU who the two have a lot of experience against. Heczey will start against a Mustang opponent who is the No. 24 overall seed in the singles draw while Surapaneni goes up against a SMU all-conference senior who she knows very well.

Ponomareva and Zhou will get some early Conference USA action in the first round of their matches. The newcomers face off against UT San Antonio's Kylee Kato and Rice's Diae El Jardi, respectively.  

Hummel opens the singles draw against Gabby Cusano of Texas. Sasaki will face UTRGV's Alicia Thal and Khaled Badwy face an Incarnate Word opponent. 

Though for Kononova and Kutubidze, the doubles title was a long time in the making, but for Heczey and 2019 graduate Minying Liang, who also had a strong showing the tournament, their performances at the Texas Regional spring boarded them into successful years and further put UNT tennis on the map. 

This season's returners and newcomers will aim to continue that as they begin the run to defend the title Kononova and Kutubidze won.