Box Score

DENTON, Texas (3/23/08) Narine Kazarova took center stage and didn’t disappoint, scoring the clinching win in North Texas tennis’ 4-3 victory over Marquette on Sunday.

With the Mean Green (9-7) and Golden Eagles (7-11) knotted at 3-3, Kazarova rallied for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Marquette’s Rachael Hush to give North Texas its first win this year after losing the doubles point.

“This was a defining moment for us at this point in the season,” said North Texas head coach Sujay Lama. “We knew Marquette would come out and play well, but Narine was able to execute on the big stage. Kudos to Narine for standing strong.”

Heading into the match with the Golden Eagles, North Texas was 0-6 when dropping the doubles point, but has now equaled its win total in each of the last two seasons combined with the Easter rally.

Madura Ranganathan, Amy Joubert and Idalina Franca made short work of their opponents in singles action to give the Mean Green a 3-1 lead, but the pressure fell on Kazarova when Shannon MacKenzie and Catalina Cruz fell.

North Texas tennis is in good hands in the upcoming seasons, as Cruz (Soph.), Kazarova (Fr.) and Ranganathan (Fr.) are a combined 28-19 this spring.

The Mean Green returns to action on Friday versus Sun Belt foe ULM on Friday at 3 p.m. at the Waranch Tennis Complex.