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University of Houston Athletics
Making a Racquet - Vol. 8
2/25/2015 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 reflects on last week's victories over Missouri and Utah, which vaulted the Cougars up 17 spots in the latest ITA rankings.)
VOLUME VIII - FEB. 25, 2015
 | THE GIRLS BATTLE IT OUT! |
It was an exciting weekend for the Cougars as we overcame two tough battles; one on Friday against Missouri followed by an even tougher battle on Sunday against Utah.
The victorious weekend started on a rainy Friday in Houston, which meant we had to play indoors at the Chancellors Racquet Club. Due to the location change and shortage of indoor courts, we started the match with singles first instead of a fired up doubles point. This meant we were going into singles without any scores on the board, and it also meant we could be a little more relaxed going into singles, since it is not as quick and intense as the doubles.
Elena got the first win for the Cougars, but Missouri bounced back on court three to level the score. Debbie then followed with a win to put the score at 2-1, just before Mina won her match to make it 3-1.
Although we were close to the win, we weren't quite there yet, as the Tigers clawed their way back to earn their second win on court six. But a pumped up Rocio put an end to the Missouri's comeback to clinch the fourth point in fighting fashion.
We couldn't celebrate and relax just yet though, since the weekend was only halfway through and we had another match to win on Sunday.
At the start of the week, we knew that Sunday was a big match for us; all of our matches are big matches but since we lost to Utah last year (and it wasn't pretty), we were even more determined to get the win, and it definitely was a big one!
Due to the weather forecast for rain all day, the match was moved indoors again to the Chancellors Racquet Club, where we again started the day with the singles instead of doubles.
Yet again, Elena dominated to give us the 1-0 lead, but Utah quickly responded with a win on court one. It was now down to the bottom four courts to fight hard and get the three wins we needed. With all of the courts battling it out in the third sets, the match wasn't going to come easy. After a first set defeat, Rocio was next to fight back and give us the 2-1 we were looking for, but Utah came back on court four to even out the score to 2-2.
Tina was next to gain a victory for the Cougars with impressive grit and determination. The score was 3-2 and it was down to Maria to pull out the big win.
It was certainly exciting and nerve-wracking for us all watching, but Maria fought courageously to win a thrilling third set tiebreak, to clinch the match. What an incredible match it was, lasting almost four hours!
We celebrated the win at La Madeline, a French café, with good food before we get back to practice this week. Our week's activities include yoga, workouts, and most likely indoor practice before we head East on Friday, to take on Brown and Connecticut in back-to-back matches.
Thanks to everyone who came to support us at the Chancellors Club!
Charlotte
Players Mentioned
