University of Houston Athletics
Tennis Opens Cougar Fall Draw with Solid Singles Day
10/7/2006 12:00:00 AM | Tennis
Oct. 7, 2006
HOUSTON - The University of Houston tennis team opened the Cougar Fall Draw with a strong singles showing on day one Friday at Hoff Courts on the UH campus.
"I was pleased with our singles play," head coach John Severance said. "We played some good matches but need to get better because we have some tougher matches on the horizon later in this tournament."
Returnees Loli Gomez, Vicky Simpson and Sonja Nikolic all notched straight set victories. Meredith Giles, Anna Djananova and Neila Starratt earned their first victories as Cougars.
Gomez and Giles made quick work of their matches in the red flight, while Nikolic and Djananova tallied a pair of hard-fought 7-5 opening set wins in the white flight. Both went on to win in straight sets. The teammates will face each other in the quarterfinals.
The Cougars had some initial success in doubles action as three of the four pairs won its opening match. Houston lost a trio of close decisions at the end of the day.
"All of us were really excited to play today after working hard in practice over the last month," Nikolic said. "We did pretty good singles wise, but we need to get better in doubles. It was hard to flip from doubles to singles back to doubles."
"There were some positive things in doubles, but we didn't get the results that we wanted," Severance said. "We had some close matches but this is what the fall season is for to work out the kinks. You have to lose to get better sometimes and we know we have to get better in that aspect."
Day two of the Cougar Fall Draw opens with consolation doubles action at 8:30am followed by singles quarterfinals and semifinals in all three flights. Admission to Hoff Courts is free all weekend.
Players Mentioned
