DENTON — The North Texas tennis shutout its fourth opponent on Sunday with a 4-0 win over Arizona.

When momentum began to turn against the Mean Green (6-4) on Sunday it was a pair of juniors who squashed any Wildcats (4-2) comeback.

"The growth of Ivana and Alexandra really showed today," said head coach Sujay Lama. "They showed so much calmness and poise to carry our team today."

With the doubles point in their hands after winning at No. 1 but losing on No. 3, Alexandra Heczey and Ivana Babic at No. 2 road the wave of a competitive match and despite losing a lead, held on to comeback and win their doubles match and give UNT a early 1-0 lead. Sunday marked the fifth straight match North Texas has won the doubles point. 

In the singles competition it was once again Heczey putting the Mean Green in position to win.

With a 1-0 lead, Heczey blew past her opposition with a clean 6-0, 6-2 win at the No. 3 position to give the Mean Green a 2-0 lead and needing to win just two of the last five single matches. 

"We had a great energy during doubles and we knew we could bring it to singles too," Heczey said. "I felt the ball real good today and it helped me to finish my singles first. I'm really proud the way we competed today as a team and I'm really happy for the team win."

With a 2-0 lead, the attention was back on Babic to carry the team. 

At the No. 6 spot in the lineup, Babic overcome some more ups and downs to win 6-4, 6-2 and improve to 6-1 on the year in singles. This year alone, Babic has won more singles matches this year than her first two years in Denton combined. 

"Ivana has really elevated our team by her play at the back of the lineup," Lama said. "We know the top of our lineup is solid but to have her playing at the level she's playing at secures the bottom of the lineup and makes us a very dangerous team."

With a 3-0 lead of Arizona, North Texas turned to its senior captain to cap off the win. 

The program's all-time leader in wins, Maria Kononova, bounced back after a tough second-set to win 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 snd clinch the Mean Green win. The win is Kononova's 75th of her career and her fifth in a row.

"We know we have something special," said Lama. "We just have to continue to show growth, which we did today."

North Texas will conclude its six-match home stand next Friday versus Northwestern State. The match is scheduled to start at 2 p.m.

Singles
1. #69 Tamuna Kutubidze (UNT) vs. Emma Wilson (ARIZONA) 7-6 (7-5), 4-4, unfinished
2. Maria Kononova (UNT) def. Camila Wesbrooks (ARIZONA) 6-3, 1-6, 6-3
3. Alexandra Heczey (UNT) def. Talya Zandberg (ARIZONA) 6-0, 6-2
4. Nidhi Surapaneni (UNT) vs. Marie Van Aelst (ARIZONA) 6-2, 5-5, unfinished
5. Minying Liang (UNT) vs. Sophia Thomas (ARIZONA) 2-6, 5-5, unfinished
6. Ivana Babic (UNT) def. Taylor Tamblyn (ARIZONA) 6-4, 6-2

Doubles
1. #19 Tamuna Kutubidze/Maria Kononova (UNT) def. Emma Wilson/Camila Wesbrooks (ARIZONA) 6-1
2. Alexandra Heczey/Ivana Babic (UNT) def. Cseenge Furak/Sophia Thomas (ARIZONA) 7-5
3. Talya Zandberg/Marie Van Aelst (ARIZONA) def. Nidhi Surapaneni/Minying Liang (UNT) 6-2