University of Houston
Middle Tennessee State
Tennis Loses Regular Season Finale to Middle Tennessee State
4/14/2007 12:00:00 AM | Tennis
April 14, 2007
RENO, Nev. - The University of Houston tennis team lost a 4-2 match to Middle Tennessee State Saturday afternoon at the Wilbur D. May Tennis Complex. The two teams played singles with four of the six matches going three sets.
"We had a chance to win the match after controlling four of six opening sets," head coach John Severance said. "Our team learned a valuable lesson about how important it is to finish matches. It's a lesson I would rather have the tam learn today than next week at the conference tournament."
Middle Tennessee State (7-11) grabbed a 1-0 advantage as Hala Sufi knocked off Leila Salek at the top of the lineup. The Blue Raiders extended the lead to 2-0 when Claudia Szabo defeated Anna Djananova 6-4, 6-2 in the No. 4 spot.
Vicky Simpson put the Cougars (13-8) on the board with a hard-fought 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-3 over Pooja Kommireddi at the No. 5 slot.
Marlene Chemen answered for MTSU after dropping the opening set to Sonja Nikolic in the No. 3 hole. Chemen pushed MTSU ahead 3-1 with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 comeback win.
After splitting the first two sets, Loli Gomez regrouped and drew Houston within 3-2 with a 7-6 win in the final set. The Spaniard took the tiebreaker, 7-4.
Stephanie Parkison clinched the victory for Middle Tennessee State at the No. 6 position. After Neila Starratt won the opening set 6-3, Parkison evened the match with a 7-5 win in the second set tiebreaker. Parkison used that momentum to claim the final set, 6-0.
Houston returns to the courts next weekend at the Conference USA Tournament in Tulsa. The league office will release the seedings for the tournament on Monday.
"We have some work to do in practice to prepare for the conference tournament," Severance said. "The good news is that we'll have a clean slate once we get to the tournament."
