University of Houston Athletics
Tennis Starts Strong at Houston Quad
11/3/2006 12:00:00 AM | Tennis
Nov. 3, 2006
Tennis Starts Strong at Houston Quad
The Cougars open the Houston Quad in strong fashion, winning six of eight singles matches.
HOUSTON - Loli Gomez and Sonja Nikolic stormed into the finals of their respective flights, notching a pair of victories Friday during day one of the Houston Quad Tournament at Hoff Courts on the UH campus.
"It's a strong start to this tournament to already have a couple of players in the finals after day one," head coach John Severance said. "This was the type of start to the weekend that we needed. We can't stop here, however. I challenged the team to have at least one player in each flight final."
Gomez dropped only one game in her Flight A opening round match, but had to rebound from a one-set deficit in her semifinal match. The Spaniard took the second set 6-3 before winning the super tiebreaker, 10-6.
"Loli had her hands full in the second match," Severance said. "She was able to pull through relying on her experience."
Sonja Nikolic also tallied a pair of three-set victories in Flight C action. She erased an early set deficit in her opening round match with a dominant 6-1 second set. Nikolic used that momentum to win the super tiebreaker, 10-5. In her semifinal match, Nikolic once again called upon the super tiebreaker and gutted out a 10-8 victory to secure her spot in the finals.
"For Sonja to get a couple of close wins like this is huge for her confidence," Severance said. She's been working so hard on different aspects of her game over the last month and it's good for that hard work to pay off in pressure situations."
Anna Djananova and Vicky Simpson also tallied opening round wins in their respective flights and will play in semifinal action Saturday at 11:30am. Doubles action also gets underway starting at 8am.
Admission to Hoff Courts is free.
Players Mentioned
