Jan. 24, 2014

LOS ANGELES -The North Texas tennis team will compete in the consolation finals against No.58 Utah after falling to No.6 USC in the opening day of the ITA Kick-Off weekend.

“The Mean Green played much better today,” said associate head coach Jeff Hammond. “We kept fighting on every court. Today was a respectable loss to a well-coached and classy program. We are very young, but in just two weeks there has been incredible growth.”

In doubles play North Texas freshman Anastasiya Shestakova and Kamilla Galieva fell to USC’s nationally-ranked Sabrina Santamaria (No. 13) and Kaitlyn Christian (No. 33) at the No.1 spot.

In singles play, sophomore Agustina Valenzuela put up a fight against USC’s Guiliana Olmos (No.60) but fell 6-1, 6-2; the Mean Green fell 4-0 to the Trojans due to suspended play.

“We are looking forward to a long hard battle tomorrow with Utah,” Hammond said.

The consolation final will begin at 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 25.

Doubles

1. Christian/Santamaria No.33 (USC) def. Galieva/Shestakova (UNT), 6-1 (finished second)
2. Scandalis/Olmos No.7 (USC) def. Valenzuela/Joubert (UNT), 6-0 (finished first)
3. Katz/Yates (USC) vs. Cordero/Thoma (UNT), suspended at 4-1
USC wins doubles point

Singles

1. Santamaria No.13 (USC) vs. Shestakova (UNT), suspended at 6-3, 5-1
2. Scandalis (USC) vs. Galieva (UNT), suspended at 5-3
3. Olmos No.60 (USC) def. Valenzuela (UNT), 6-1, 6-2 (finished second)
4. DeSimone (USC) vs. Thoma(UNT), 6-4, 3-0
5. Yates (USC) def. Cordero (UNT), 6-3, 6-0 (finished third)
6. Christian (USC) def. Joubert (UNT), 6-0, 6-0 (finished first)