University of Houston
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UTEP
No. 71 Tennis Charges Past UTEP
4/1/2006 12:00:00 AM | Tennis
April 1, 2006
EL PASO - The University of Houston tennis team racked up a 6-1 victory over UTEP Saturday at the El Paso Tennis Center.
The Cougars (16-3, 3-0 C-USA) have won nine of its last 10 matches. Houston's 16 victories eclipsed its regular season win total from a season ago. Houston continues to improve on its best start in program history since the 1989-90 season when the Cougars opened the season 20-1.
"UTEP came out with a lot of confidence but we were able to match their intensity," head coach John Severance said. "The courts played a lot quicker than at New Mexico State and our girls made the necessary adjustments."
Houston snatched the doubles point as the pairs of Brianna Bateup and Vicky Simpson along with Kami Miller and Yolandi Terblanche notched convincing doubles wins.
Sonja Nikolic emerged from the singles courts first racking up a 6-0, 6-3 victory at No. 3 singles pushing the lead to 2-0.
UTEP cut the deficit to 2-1 when Teri Wilkerson knocked off Loli Gomez 6-1, 6-3 at the top of the lineup.
The Cougars rebounded and clinched the match as Vicky Simpson and Brianna Bateup notched a pair of straight-set victories.
Amber Brightly gave the Miners another singles win at the bottom of the lineup with her defeat of Tiffany McLaughlin 6-1, 6-4 at the No. 6 spot.
Kami Miller capped the 5-2 victory with a hard-fought 6-3, 7-6 win in the No. 4 hole. Miller is now two wins shy of moving into the No. 7 slot all-time in career singles victories.
Houston concludes the weekend with a match-up against No. 52 SMU in El Paso. First serve is slated for 11am. Both schools will be playing its third match in three days.
"Tomorrow is a big match for us in terms of seeding for the upcoming conference tournament," Severance said. "I've been preaching to the girls all week that we have to be a third day team to win the conference tournament. A match like to tomorrow is why we work hard in the fall on our conditioning.
No. 71 Houston 5, UTEP 2
Doubles
No. 1 - Gomez/Nikolic lost to King/Palider (8-7)
No. 2 - Miller/Terblanche d. Pritchard/Wilkerson (8-5)
No. 3 - Bateup/Simpson d. Brightly/Machud (8-2)
Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1
Singles
No. 1 - Wilkerson (UTEP) d. Gomez (UH) (6-1, 6-3)
No. 2 - Bateup (UH) d. Palider (UTEP) (6-4, 6-0)
No. 3 - Nikolic (UH) d. Spirta (UTEP) (6-0, 6-2)
No. 4 - Miller (UH) d. King (UTEP) (6-3, 7-6)
No. 5 - Simpson (UH) d. Michaud (UTEP) (6-4, 6-4)
No. 6 - Brightly (UTEP) d. McLaughlin (UH) (6-1, 6-4)
Order of Finish: 3, 1, 5, 2, 6, 4
Players Mentioned
