Cougars draw UCF in American Championship
4/20/2016 12:00:00 AM | Tennis
Memphis, Tenn. -- The Houston Cougar women's tennis team will travel to Memphis, Tenn. to compete in the American Athletic Conference Championship Tournament, where they will face UCF in quarterfinal round action on Thursday, April 21 at noon. The Cougars are seeded No. 5 in the American tournament.
The Cougars will meet up with the Knights for the first time this season. In 2015-16 the Cougars have found increasing success on the double courts with Rocio Martin and Despoina Vogasari teaming up to take over the top court with a 10-5 record. Tina Rupert and Maria Cardenas have also recently proved to be a powerful duo at the second spot, rounding out the dual season 6-2 as a pair.
UCF finished out the regular season 12-6 overall, and 3-2 against American Conference Opponents. The Knights enter the American Championships having won eight of their last 10 matches including wins over Tulane, SMU and UConn. The matchup with UCF will be the first for the Cougars since the 2004-05 season. Meeting up with Vogasari on the top court in singles will be Caroline Eberhart, who is 7-4 in singles play.
The winner of Thursday's match will move on to the semifinals on Friday, April 22 at 3 p.m. The tournament is played as single elimination with the conference champion being determined in the championship final match on Saturday, April 23 at 1 p.m.
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
FIRST ROUND -- Wednesday, April 20
Match 1: No. 8 Tulane vs. No. 9 UConn | 9 a.m.
Match 2: No. 6 East Carolina vs. No. 11 Memphis | Noon
Match 3: No. 7 Temple vs. No. 10 Cincinnati | Noon
QUARTERFINAL ROUND -- Thursday, April 21
Match 4: No. 1 Tulsa vs. Winner Match 1 | Noon
Match 5: No. 4 UCF vs. No. 5 Houston | Noon
Match 6: No. 3 SMU vs. Winner Match 2 | 3 p.m.
Match 7: No. 2 USF vs. Winner Match 3 | 3 p.m.
SEMIFINAL ROUND -- Friday, April 22
Match 8: Winner Match 4 vs. Winner Match 5
Match 9: Winner Match 6 vs. Winner Match 7
FINAL ROUND -- Saturday, April 23
Match 10: Winner Match 8 vs. Winner Match 9
UP NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
A Cougar win on Thursday, would advance Houston into the semifinal round of The American Championship where they would face either Tulsa, Tulane or UConn. Houston defeated the Huskies 5-2 earlier this season, behind singles wins from Vogasari, Rupert, Cardenas and Angela Lorenzo.
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Players Mentioned
