Results

DENTON, Texas (2/27/09) - The North Texas tennis team fought hard against a nationally-ranked Tulsa squad, but ended up on the short end of a 5-2 loss. Catalina Cruz and Narine Kazarova won their singles matches with Tulsa winning the other four and the doubles point. The Mean Green now stands at 7-4 on the year with the Golden Hurricane improving to 12-2.

"It was a terrific atmosphere out there today against a good team," said North Texas head coach Sujay Lama. "Tulsa took it to us in doubles, but I like the way we fought back in singles. We were close, but we need to take that next step and Florida International is a great opportunity for us on Sunday."

Cruz and Kazarova picked up the the points for North Texas in singles. Catalina dropped the first set to Marta Marcinkowska, but struck back in the next two sets to win 0-6, 7-5, 6-2. Narine won from the No. 6 position in straight sets over Ewa Szatkowska 7-5, 6-3.

At the one and two spots, Irina Paraschiv and Madura Ranganathan won their opening sets in singles, but couldn't pull off the victories. Paraschiv won her first set 6-4 over Alexandra Kichoutkin then lost the next two 6-3, 6-2. Both of these players were ranked No. 14 in their regions. Ranganathan picked up the initial set 6-2 in her match versus Jie Zeng then dropped the second and third sets 6-2, 6-4.

In doubles, Paraschiv and Ranganathan came back in their match against Marta Marcinkowska and Thalia Diaz-Barriga. Unfortunately, the NT duo couldn't get the win as they fell 8-7.

The Mean Green plays again in two days as it hosts the No. 48 Florida International Golden Panthers at 11 A.M. on Sunday.