University of Houston
East Carolina
Tennis Comes Back on East Carolina
3/23/2007 12:00:00 AM | Tennis
March 23, 2007
MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. - Vicky Simpson and Loli Gomez came through with clutch singles victories to lift the University of Houston tennis team to a 4-3 comeback victory over East Carolina Friday afternoon at the Patriots Pilot Tennis Center near the College of Charleston campus.
It's the second consecutive match that Houston (12-5) has clinched a win with the final match on the court. The victory over the Pirates also brings head coach John Severance one victory away from reaching the 50-mark for his career.
"This is a huge win for our team," Severance said. "It shows the girls that you can overcome a deficit. This also is the type of win that will aid us in getting an appropriate seed for the conference tournament in a couple of weeks."
Down 3-2, Vicky Simpson emerged with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Luiza Borges at the No. 5 spot to keep the Cougars alive and knot the match at 3-3.
All eyes turned to Court 2 where Loli Gomez and Varinia Soler were heading to a deciding third set. Gomez regrouped after dropping the second set and rolled to a 6-1 win after seizing the momentum with the sets first five games.
"I told Loli before she started the third set that was no other option but to win," Severance said. "She knew that if she went out and played her game it was going to be an easy set for her. She did an excellent job of executing in a situation where there was no margin for error."
The Cougars fell behind 1-0 after East Carolina (14-7) took the doubles point. All three matches were decided by an 8-6 score. The Pirates got victories from their No. 1 and No. 3 pairs.
Mirela Gol pushed ECU to a 2-0 advantage after claiming a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Sonja Nikolic in the No. 3 hole.
Playing at the top of the lineup for the third time in the last five matches, Leila Salek drew Houston within 2-1 with a dominating 6-3, 6-0 win against Anca Dumitru.
Anna Djananova got back on the winning track after losing three of her last four outings and evened the match at 2-2 by rolling to a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Hannah Priest at the No. 6 spot.
ECU regained a 3-2 lead as Brooke Walter knocked off Neila Starratt 6-4, 6-2 at the No. 4 position.
Houston faces off with College of Charleston at the Patriots Pilot Tennis Center. First serve against the Cougars is set for 9am.
