HOUSTON — For a 13th straight year, the Mean Green tennis team won its opening match of the conference tournament.

North Texas (12-10) beat UAB (6-14) 4-0 Thursday afternoon in the first round of the Conference USA Tournament hosted at Rice. The Mean Green will face the fourth-seed and defending champs Florida International Panthers in the quarterfinal round on Friday at 2 p.m. FIU beat UTEP on Thursday, 4-1.

"From day one I've worked to build a program that expected nothing less than a championship," said head coach Sujay Lama who is in his 14th season as the Mean Green's head coach. "We have a veteran team and they want it."

Due to injuries, the 12-seed Blazers entered the 14-team tournament with just four players active and thus put the Mean Green up 2-0 in the overall score before the match ever started and needed to win just one of the two doubles matches to earn the doubles point. 

Seniors Maria Kononova and Tamuna Kutubidze got it done in doubles winning 6-1 and improving to 13-1 on the year.

With a 3-0 overall score lead headed into singles, UNT needed to win one of the four singles matches to clinch the first round victory. 

Despite the deficit, UAB didn't back down and put pressure on the Mean Green. The Blazers led early on three of the singles courts but junior Alexandra Heczey wasn't waiting around.

While the three other matches stayed close, Heczey cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 win to clinch the victory, beating the same opponent she beat in the first round of last year's conference tournament when UNT beat UAB 4-2. 

"She has that skill to be aggressive and take the racket out of her opponent's hand," Lama said of Heczey. "Ever since our match at Memphis I've seen her make some great strides."

The win is Heczey's eighth singles win of the year 
 
"That's how I like to play," Heczey confirmed of Lama's description of his junior. "I like when my opponent gets frustrated. I'm also happy I could get the win for our team. We are feeling very good and confident."

With Thursday's win North Texas secures a winning season, which means every team at UNT has had a winning season this year. That hasn't happened since the 1977-78 season.

Fans can follow UNT's quarterfinal match against FIU by visiting the conference tournament home page. 


Singles Competition
1. Maria Kononova (UNT) vs. Marlene Herrmann (UABW) 6-7 (2-7), unfinished
2. Tamuna Kutubidze (UNT) vs. Alex Shchipakina (UABW) 7-5, 2-2, unfinished
3. Minying Liang (UNT) vs. Dominika Hrabalova (UABW) 2-6, 4-3, unfinished
4. Alexandra Heczey (UNT) def. Megan Bertrands (UABW) 6-2, 6-1
5. Nidhi Surapaneni (UNT) def. Hana Sisirak (UABW), by default
6. Ivana Babic (UNT) def. Sophie Dodds (UABW), by default

Doubles Competition
1. #44 Maria Kononova/Tamuna Kutubidze (UNT) def. Marlene Herrmann/Dominika Hrabalova (UABW) 6-1
2. Ivana Babic/Alexandra Heczey (UNT) vs. Alex Shchipakina/Megan Bertrands (UABW) 3-2, unfinished
3. Minying Liang/Nidhi Surapaneni (UNT) def. Hana Sisirak/Sophie Dodds (UABW), by default