April 20, 2007

Results

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - The UT Arlington women's tennis team got a strong effort from seniors Monika Peciulionyte and Simri van Rooyen to defeat Texas-San Antonio 4-2 in the opening round of the 2007 Southland Conference Women's Tennis Championship here Friday morning.

UTA improves to 14-3 during the season. The third-seeded Mavs will face second-seed Sam Houston State in one semifinal Saturday at 9:30 a.m. The Mavs will try and avenge a 4-3 loss to Sam Houston State during the regular season.

"I thought Monika and Simri played extremely well. Getting off the the quick start was key," said UTA assistant coach Younes Liman. It was good to win a couple of singles matches early. We needed to get off the court quickly and prepare for a big (match) tomorrow."

"The seniors stepped up today," said Peciulionyte. "We came ready to roll (this weekend)."

UT Arlington got off to a quick start, winning the doubles point. Daniela Novakova and Sara Pesic defeated Monika Drabkova and Holly Phillips at No. 2 while Marissa Brown and Sofya Lifanova defeated Sandra Kukla and Nathalie Wallin 8-5 at No. 3.

In singles, Peciulionyte and van Rooyen wasted little time, winning their matches in less than an hour. Peciulionyte set the tone early, winning four of the first five games in the opening set and defeated Karen Scida 6-3, 6-0.

van Rooyen looked dominating in a 6-0, 6-2 win over Drabkova. van Rooyen won the first set in 23 minutes and did not give up more than two points per game.

UTSA rallied with two points, winning at No. 5 and No. 6.

The Mavs clinched the match with a 6-0, 7-6 win by freshman Sofya Lifanova at No. 4. Senior Daniela Novakova was on the verge of winning her match. She won the opening set 6-4 and was leading the second set 5-1.