The TCU women’s tennis team lost 4-3 to the University of North Texas after fighting through the pain of an injury-ridden roster last night at Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center.

The Horned Frogs (3-2) lost for the second match in a row.

Only two players on the team are currently at full health, head coach Dave Borelli said.

Junior Federica Denti was pulled out of her singles match after she aggravated an injury received earlier during her doubles match.

“We defaulted one player and then we had another one that pulled out of lineup, and the number one player was serving underhand throughout the match,” Borelli said.

“It puts pressure on everyone when the majority of the team is not healthy,” junior Olivia Smith said. 

Senior Gaby Mastromarino played the full three sets against UNT senior Paula Dinuta in singles play. Mastromarino won the first set 7-6, lost the second set 6-2 and barely lost the last set 6-7. Dinuta won the tiebreaker in the last set to earn UNT the match point and the win.

Smith lost 6-2 in the first set and 6-4 in the second against UNT freshman Kseniya Bardabush.

“I couldn’t find the rest of my game from the pressure of always being on the back foot, without having a serve,” Smith said.

Smith had to adjust to her injury and serve underhand during the match.
TCU went 2-3 in the doubles play.

Denti and junior Kelsey Sundaram lost their doubles match 8-5 against juniors Valentina Starkova and Barbora Vykydalova.

Sophomore Millie Nichols and Smith won their doubles match 8-4 against Bardabush and senior Irina Paraschiv.

Mastromarino won 8-5 in her doubles debut, paired with freshman Simona Parajova against UNT senior Nadia Lee and freshman Franziska Sprinkmeyer.

“We played well, we still had a chance to win. The way I look at it is it proves just how good this team is,” Borelli said.