RESULTS
PLANO — The North Texas tennis team began its 2019 season with a dominating 7-0 win over Abilene Christian on Tuesday, nearly winning every match in straight sets. In total, UNT won nine matches on Tuesday when including the three doubles matches. 

The Mean Green, who are coming off their most successful fall season in recent memory, played their season opener in Plano at Lifetime Fitness' indoors facility in preparation for their upcoming matches at Iowa, which will also be played indoors. 

"It was a great start," said senior captain Maria Kononova. "Everyone is happy how they played but also not satisfied, which is a good thing."

UNT, which is led by its three seniors who will graduate as the most decorated class in program history, all played dominating matches on Tuesday in both singles and doubles. 

Kononova, North Texas' all-time leader in singles and doubles victories picked up her 69th career singles win on Tuesday with a 6-4, 6-3 win at the No. 1 position in the lineup. In doubles, she wasn't paired with classmate Tamuna Kutubidze against ACU. Kononova and Kutubidze have paired together 78 times in their three and a half years in Denton and own a career winning percentage of .705. But to spread out the doubles lineup Kononova and fellow senior Minying Liang were matched together and came away with a 6-3 win, which clinched the doubles point for the Mean Green.

Kutubidze was paired with sophomore Nidhi Surapaneni and they won the third doubles match shortly after Liang and Kononova, 6-1.

"I was a little nervous before the match," Kononova said. "This is my last first match of college. But once I got out out there I felt good and this was a good measure to see how the fall went and what I still need to work on and get better with."

For the first time in program history, North Texas has a three players ranked in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Preseason Ranking. 

Along with Kononova and Kutubidze's No. 21 national doubles ranking, Kutubidze earned a No. 45 national ranking following her successful fall season. On Tuesday, Kutubidze proved her ranking worthy as she put together a complete straight set sweep in singles at the No. 2 position in the lineup.

Kutubidze won 6-1, 6-3. She had the first singles win of the day for UNT, which gave the Mean Green a 2-0 lead. 

The matched was clinched at court No. 4 when Liang, the No. 102 nationally ranked singles player held off a comeback from her Wildcats' opponent in the second set to win the tiebreaker and the overall match, 6-1, 7-5. 

"A 7-0 win is a great way to start the year," Kutubidze said. "It was weird that this was our last first match of the spring but we're on to the next one and taking each match a day at a time. We can still get a lot better and we're focused on that. But overall a great win."

Tuesday marked the second year in a row North Texas (1-0) has opened the year with a win. 

Surprisingly, Tuesday marked just the second time the Mean Green have faced the Wildcats in the last ten years. They beat the Wildcats 4-3 in 2009.

Next up for the Mean Green is Xavier who they will face on a neural site at Iowa on Saturday before they take on the Hawkeyes on Sunday. 

Saturday's match is scheduled for 9 a.m.

SINGLES
1. Maria Kononova (UNT) def. Sarah Adams (ACU) 6-4, 6-3
2. #45 Tamuna Kutubidze (UNT) def. Nini Memishishi (ACU) 6-1, 6-3
3. Nidhi Surapaneni (UNT) def. Autumn Bellow (ACU) 6-1, 6-3
4. #102 Minying Liang (UNT) def. Allison Stewrart (ACU) 6-1, 7-5
5. Alexandra Heczey (UNT) def. Jordan Henry (ACU) 6-3, 6-4
6. Sille Tranberg (UNT) def. Illena Mocciola (ACU) 6-2, 3-6, 10-5

DOUBLES
1. Maria Kononova/Minying Liang (UNT) def. Nini Memishishi/Sarah Adams (ACU) 6-3
2. Alexandra Heczey/Ivana Babic (UNT) def. Autumn Bellow/Illena Mocciola (ACU) 6-2
3. Tamuna Kutubidze/Nidhi Surapaneni (UNT) def. Allison Stewrart/Sylvia Viljoen (ACU) 6-1