University of Houston Athletics
Making a Racquet - Vol. 2
1/18/2015 12:00:00 AM | Tennis
(Editor's Note: "Making a Racquet" is written by senior women's tennis player Charlotte Phillips, who is interning with the Houston Athletics Communications department this semester. Throughout the season, Charlotte will provide a behind-the-scenes look into the Cougar tennis program, including practice stories, match recaps, interesting anecdotes and notes from the road. Today's entry looks back on Houston's season-opening victory over UTSA.)
VOLUME II - JAN. 18, 2015
 | COUGARS START THE BALL ROLLING... |
The day had finally come around, the day we had been waiting a long gruelling four months for: the first match of many more to come in the spring semester.
The weather in Houston had finally turned itself around, to a sunny and pleasant 18 degrees Celsius, or 64 Fahrenheit as Americans will be more familiar with (we now have to operate in Celsius with a team mainly full of Europeans!). With a quick last minute outfit change, from t-shirt to tank top right before we were due on court, we were ready to take on the Roadrunners from UTSA.
We completed our usual preparation and warm up - the same for each match. We like to keep everything exactly the same so it becomes an automatic routine, even when we are on the road.
With the new rules of not having a warm up with opponents before each match, it was important that we were focused and motivated from the moment we stepped on the court, and we did just that. The Spanish-speaking duo of Maria and Angela quickly took care of business in just 15 minutes with a 6-1 victory, while Elena and Rocio quickly followed suit with a 6-2 win, earning us the doubles point over UTSA.
With a quick five-minute break, we were back on court ready to start singles, and with a slight hiccup and last minute line-up change, it was down to me to run on court and stand in at No. 6. With no warm up again for singles, it meant we all had to be really switched on to play the first point.
In true Elena and Depi fashion, the Greeks dominated to give us a 3-0 lead. Mina then followed to clinch the fourth point and gain her first college win for the Cougars. A short time later, Angela and I also got the wins on courts 5 and 6.
We all played with a huge amount of determination and concentration, especially as the first match is always going to be a tough one after a while without match play. There were some good points and some not-so-good points, but with the sun shining on our backs as we cheered out for one another, we stood up to the challenge, got the job done and earned the win!
After the win, we earned ourselves a post-match lunch at our favourite Chinese restaurant, where sesame chicken proved to be the winner as always (told you we like our routines - it must be a sport thing!)
Thank you to all our fans who came to support. We hope to see you again as the Cougars take on the other Cougars from BYU at 11 a.m. on Monday.
Charlotte
Players Mentioned
