North Texas Daily

With her signature forehand, sophomore Tamuna Kutubidze launched the tennis ball as hard she could.

But instead of it heading toward her opponent, the ball went straight at the fence.

“I’m just suffering right now a lot,” Kutubidze said. “Physically I’m much better than last week. It’s just the mental part – I’m so destroyed mentally right now.”

That moment for Kutubidze summed up the day for the Mean Green in what turned into a 6-1 loss against Kansas State University at the Waranch Tennis Complex.

It was a day full of frustration as North Texas fell to 2-5 on the season.

Despite losing the doubles matches 2-0, the Mean Green were in a position to win just about every singles match. The team was just unable to put the nail in the coffin.

“We were not too happy about the doubles,” head coach Sujay Lama said. “We wanted that kind of start (in the singles), we got that start and we just could not sustain and couldn’t close out some of those matches.”

On the bright side for North Texas, sophomore Maria Kononova – named the Conference USA Player of the Week on February 14^th – managed to keep her win streak alive at six. Kononova took out Kansas State junior Carolina Costamaga in three sets finishing 7-6, 5-7, 6-0.

“[I was] just being mentally strong,” Kononova said. “You can barely [tell] if I’m winning or losing. I always maintain a [good] level of mentality in my level on court.”

Adding insult to injury, fellow sophomore Minying Liang suffered an apparent shoulder injury. Liang was able to finish her match, but had to be helped off court by the medical staff for further evaluation.

Next up: North Texas takes on Washington State University at 12 p.m. Sunday at the Waranch Tennis Complex. Washington State will mark the 5^th Power Five conference team North Texas has faced in eight games.