University of Houston
McNeese State
Tennis Blows Past Cowgirls
1/29/2005 12:00:00 AM | Tennis
Jan. 29, 2005
HOUSTON - Playing in the opening match of the 2005 tennis season, the Cougars hosted visiting McNeese State on the John E. Hoff Tennis Courts on Saturday and pulled off a 7-0 victory to start the year.
The match marked the third time the two schools have met, and it produced the third straight victory for Houston over the Cowgirls.
Houston started out by claiming all three of the doubles pairings where Houston's top team of senior Diana Martin and junior Kami Miller came away with an 8-3 win, the Aussie duo of freshman Brianna Bateup and senior Biljana Dimovska claimed their match 8-2 and junior Yolandi Terblanche and freshman Tiffany McLoughlin squeezed out an 8-6 victory.
"We were nervous and got off to a slow start in doubles," said first year head coach John Severance who also picked up his first win at the helm of the Cougars. "But the nerves subsided and we began playing some pretty good tennis."
The Cougars went on to claim all six singles matches without dropping a single set to the Cowgirls.
Dimovska and Martin won by scores of 6-0, 6-2 and 6-4, 6-4, respectively while Bateup picked up her first collegiate victory with an impressive 6-1, 6-1 victory.
"The difference was we were very disciplined in our game of tennis," said Severance. "We were willing to hit that extra ball, and that disciplined game of high percentage tennis is going to get to people."
Unfortunately the Cougars won't get to celebrate their victory for long as a tough schedule in February has just begun.
Houston next heads out on the road to face a good Furman team on Feb. 4, then a good Georgia State team on Feb. 6 before returning home to face LSU, Texas Tech and several other respected teams.
"This was a good win for us, but now we will see what we are made of," said Severance.
The Cougars face off with Furman on Friday, Feb. 5, at 3:00 p.m.
HOUSTON v. MCNEESE
Houston wins 7-0
Doubles
Martin/Miller (UH) def. Furno/Jonqenel (MSU) 8-3
Bateup/Dimovska (UH) def. Hakansson/Grobbelaar (MSU) 8-2
Terblanche/McLoughlin (UH) def. Risoleo/Dobersek (MSU) 8-6
Singles
Dimovska (UH) def. Furno (MSU) 6-0, 6-2
Martin (UH) def. Risoleo (MSU) 6-4, 6-4
Miller (UH) def. Dobersek (MSU) 6-4, 6-4
Bateup (UH) def. Hakansson (MSU) 6-1, 6-4
Terblanche (UH) def. Grobbelaar (MSU) 6-0, 6-0
McLoughlin (UH) def. Jonquenel (MSU) 6-3, 6-4
