University of Houston Athletics
Tennis Flies into Flight Finals at Houston Quad
11/4/2006 12:00:00 AM | Tennis
Nov. 4, 2006
HOUSTON - The University of Houston tennis team completed a strong second day during day two of the Houston Quad Saturday at Hoff Courts on the UH campus.
"It was a pretty strong challenge that I gave the team yesterday that I wanted to have a player in each of the flight finals," head coach John Severance said. "Our team has really bought into the philosophy of playing high percentage tennis. We wanted to end the fall season on the positive note and took a step towards that today."
Leila Salek picked up a pair of victories to join teammate Loli Gomez in Flight A action. Salek split the first two sets of her opening round match before running away with a 10-5 win in the super tiebreaker. The United Kingdom native took that momentum en route to a dominating 6-1, 6-1 victory in her semifinal match.
"Leila was in control of the match, but let the momentum slip in the second set," Severance said. "During the break before the super tiebreaker, I reminded her that we've been working on these situations in practice."
Anna Djananova and Neila Starratt also advanced to the finals in their respective flights. Djananova earned a hard-fought 6-3, 6-4 win, while Starratt tallied a 6-4, 7-6 victory.
"It was pivotal for our freshman to step up in this type of a situation," Severance said. "This shows the promise of our program to have our freshman develop this early and have a chance to win flight championships."
The Cougars also placed two doubles pairs in each of the flight finals. Loli Gomez and Leila Salek dropped only one game over two matches in Flight A, while Sonja Nikolic and Vicky Simpson earned a tight 8-6 victory in semifinal action of Flight B after tallying an opening round bye.
"We're still searching for two more strong double teams," Severance said. "Loli and Leila are a very special combination and have shown that they know to execute our doubles scheme."
The final day of the Houston Quad gets underway at 8am Sunday with doubles finals. Admission to Hoff Courts is free.
