Feb. 28, 2008

DALLAS (SMU)--The No. 62 SMU women's tennis team is set to take on in-state foe No. 73 Texas Tech Friday at noon at the Lakewood Country Club (maps, directions), before heading west to Las Vegas to face No. 33 UNLV on Sunday. The Mustangs are 8-3 this season, while the Red Raiders are 6-3 and the Lady Rebels are 7-3.

Scouting the Mustangs: The Mustangs enter the weekend with a 42-22 (.656) team record in singles and a 23-10 (.697) mark in doubles. SMU is led in singles by 73rd-ranked Natalia Bubien at No. 1. Bubien is 7-3 on the season with two wins over nationally-ranked opponents. Close behind Bubien are Pavi Francis and Kseniia Tokarieva. Francis boasts an 8-3 record in the second and third slots, with her latest victory coming over TCU Wednesday night. Francis is riding a three-match winning streak coming into the weekend's action. Tokarieva, named Conference USA Player of the Week this week (Feb. 26), also owns an 8-3 record. In doubles, the Mustangs are led by the 38th-ranked duo of Nicole Briceno and Tokarieva, who have an 8-2 record at No. 2.

Last Time Out: SMU dropped a tough match to cross-town rival TCU Wednesday night, 6-1. The Mustangs played hard in doubles with Bubien/Francis almost notching a win at No. 1. The tandem rallied back from a 4-0 deficit to take the lead, 7-6, over the 11th-ranked pair in the country. But Harkins/Sydorska responded and ended up with the win, 8-7(2). The Mustangs' only win of the evening came at the hands of Pavi Francis at No. 3 singles. Francis took the first set, beating Harkins 7-6(3), but Harkins bounced back to win the second, 6-4. In the decisive third set, Francis outlasted Harkins to win the super tiebreaker, 12-10.

Scouting the Red Raiders: Texas Tech owns a 6-3 record this season and enters the weekend ranked at No. 73. The Red Raiders have lost their last two matches, falling to Boise State and BYU Feb. 15-16. After two weeks of rest, the Red Raiders will look to upset SMU Friday.

Scouting the Lady Rebels: The No. 33 Lady Rebels are 6-3 this season, with losses to then-No. 2 Stanford, then-No. 34 Texas A&M and then-No. 14 Fresno State. Most recently, UNLV knocked off No. 32 Florida International in a big 6-1 victory. The Lady Rebels have a team singles mark of 42-18 (.700) and a doubles record of 20-7 (.741). UNLV is strong throughout the lineup and is led by 23rd-ranked Elena Gantcheva in singles, who holds an impressive 8-1 record at No. 1. At No. 2, Kristina Nedeltcheva is 6-3, while Katy Williams is 6-3 at No. 3. Anna Maskaljun is 5-3 at No. 5 and Adrienn Hidvegi is 6-2 at No. 6. In doubles, Gantcheva and Nedeltcheva are 7-2 this season, while Williams and Maskaljun are likewise 6-2 at No. 2.

Results: Complete match recaps and results will be available on SMUMustangs.com following the completion of each match.

On the Horizon: The Mustangs will have a two-week break before hosting Louisville on March 14 and C-USA rival No. 38 Tulsa on March 16.