BOX SCORE
PLANO — The North Texas women's tennis team won its second straight match with a 6-1 victory over Sam Houston State on Friday afternoon.

The Mean Green (4-3) set the tone early with a strong doubles competition outing and courageous performances in singles, most notably from junior Alexandra Heczey whom head coach Sujay Lama said had one of her best matches in a while.

"I felt really good during the doubles and singles match today and I'm happy I could contribute to the team with my win," Heczey said. "Everyone fought hard and played amazing tennis today and I am really happy for the team win."

Heczey and her doubles partner Ivana Babic clinched the doubles point win with a 6-3 victory at the No. 2 position in the lineup. 

They were able to clinch the win after Maria Kononova and Tamuna Kutubidze won their doubles match in convincing style, 6-0. It was the first time this season the No. 19 nationally ranked doubles team played together but it looked as if they hadn't missed a beat. The duo has now combined to win 56 matches and have a .730 winning percentage. 

Heczey then put the Mean Green in the driver's seat as she won her singles match in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3, to give North Texas an overall score lead of 3-0 and set up sophomore Nidhi Surapaneni to clinch the match for the Mean Green over SHSU (3-3).

And that's exactly what Surapaneni did.

After a close back-and-forth first set, Surapaneni put her pedal to the metal in the second set and breezed by her competition with a 6-0 second set win to win her match 7-5, 6-0 and clinch the North Texas' fourth win of the year. 

Another courageous match on Friday came from one of its senior leader Tamuna Kutubidze who locked in during the third set and bounced back after a frustrating second set loss. Kutubidze is now 6-1 on the year and is the No. 69 nationally ranked singles player to go along with her and Kononova's No. 19 doubles ranking.

The Mean Green quickly turnaround for another match on Saturday when they host conference foe Western Kentucky at 5:30 p.m. Due to the impeding freezing weather, the match has been moved to Las Colinas Country Club where there is an indoor facility. 

Las Colinas Country Club is located at 4400 N O'Connor Rd, Irving, TX 75062.

SINGLES
1. #69 Tamuna Kutubidze (UNT) def. Sahaja Yamalapalli (SHSU) 6-4, 2-6, 6-2
2. Maria Kononova (UNT) def. Ema Barkovic (SHSU) 6-4, 6-1
3. Nidhi Surapaneni (UNT) def. Isidora Zivkovic (SHSU) 7-6(3), 6-0
4. Alexandra Heczey (UNT) def. Lusine Chobanyan (SHSU) 6-3, 6-3
5. Ivana Babic (UNT) def. K DeLaLuz Montalvo (SHSU) 6-3, 3-6, 6-2
6. Roos Gerritsen (SHSU) def. Haruka Sasaki (UNT) 5-7, 6-0, 6-3

DOUBLES
 #19 Maria Kononova/Tamuna Kutubidze (UNT) def. Ema Barkovic/K DeLaLuz Montalvo (SHSU) 6-0
2. Ivana Babic/Alexandra Heczey (UNT) def. Isidora Zivkovic/Sahaja Yamalapalli (SHSU) 6-3
3. Roos Gerritsen/Lusine Chobanyan (SHSU) def. Nidhi Surapaneni/Haruka Sasaki (UNT) 6-1