Alabama Women's Tennis Loses to SMU, 6-1
2/22/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
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The No. 32 (ITA) University of Alabama women’s tennis team lost today in Houston, Texas to the SMU Mustangs, 6-1.
Tide Sophomore Ashley Bentley got the team’s only win, her fourth in a row, over the Mustangs’ Jenny Langer, 7-5, 7-5.
SMU (5-4, 0-1 WAC) won their second match in a row, both coming against ranked Southeastern Conference opponents. The Mustangs defeated No. 44 LSU 5-2 on Tuesday.
"They (SMU) are deceivingly strong," said Alabama head coach Jenny Mainz. "We expected to win, but we weren’t ready or prepared to win. We can be frustrated, but the key is going to be how we respond tomorrow against Rice."
SMU swept all three doubles by a score of 8-4, and that carried over to singles as well.
"It definitely set the tone for the match," Mainz said. "We lost momentum and confidence and it showed throughout singles play."
Tide sophomore Natalie McElveen played her first full singles match, losing to SMU sophomore Brooke Rambally, 6-0, 6-1.
Alabama (3-3, 0-0 SEC) will play at Rice tomorrow morning at 11. The Tide will return home on Friday to open up conference play against the 2nd-ranked Georgia Bulldogs at 3 p.m.
Complete Match Results Follow:
SMU 6, Alabama 1
Doubles:
1. Svetlana Kouzmenko/Kit Carson (SMU) d. Robin Stephenson/Ashley Bentley (UA), 8-4
2. Allison Leuszler/Jenny Langer (SMU) d. Nathalie Koppelle/Melissa Minor (UA), 8-4
3. Nadia Vaughan/Lynsie Jones (SMU) d. Natalie McElveen/Mari Muller (UA), 8-4
Singles:
1. Kouzmenko (SMU) d. Stephenson (UA), 6-2, 1-6, 7-5
2. Carson (SMU) d. Koppelle (UA), 6-2, 6-4
3. Bentley (UA) d. Langer (SMU), 7-5, 7-5
4. Vaughan (SMU) d. Minor (UA) 7-5, 6-3
5. Halley Rambally (SMU) d. Muller (UA), 6-4, 6-4
6. Brooke Rambally (SMU) d. McElveen (UA), 6-0, 6-1
