University of Houston
Rice Invitational
Dimitrova, Nicolaou Advance at Rice Invitational
9/23/2017 12:00:00 AM | Tennis
HOUSTON â€" Sophomores Tsveta Dimitrova and Constandena Nicolaou advanced to their respective flight finals in singles play as the Houston Cougar Women's Tennis team wrapped the second day of the Rice Invitational at the George R. Brown Tennis Center on Saturday.
The day began with the final two rounds of doubles play where Dimitrova and senior Sveva Mazzari were in action in flight one. The duo opened with a 6-2 win in the consolation round against Danielle/Fabian (Alabama). The win advanced Dimitrova to the consolation finals where she teamed with Nicolaou to top Sethi/Brigante (Oklahoma) 6-3.
Mazzari would pull double-duty while also teaming with sophomore Lauren Alter in the semifinal round of flight three. The duo would fall to Niezgoda/Moenster (Rice) 6-2, but would rebound to defeat Gettwart/Wee (SHSU) 6-2 in the third-place match of the flight.
Nicolaou would also join freshman Laura Bernardos on the doubles court in flight five. The duo dropped a pair of close matches, falling to Chia/Gutierrez (Texas State) 6-4 and Menon/Cabrena (UTSA) 6-3 to close doubles play.
Dimitrova booked her spot in the flight one singles finals with a straight-set victory over Lindsey Hodge (Rice). In a pair of sets that went down to the wire, Dimitrova edged her cross-town rival 6-4, 7-5 to advance and face Janet Koch (Kansas) in Sunday's final.
Nicolaou picked up her second victory of the weekend while competing in flight seven against Carrie Casey (SHSU). Nicolaou claimed the first set 6-2, but Casey battled back to even the match with a 7-5 win in the second set. Nicolaou left no doubt in the final set with a 6-1 victory to seal the match and advance to the finals against Haruka Sasaki (UNT). On Sunday.
Alter was locked in Houston's closest match of the day while facing Minying Liang of North Texas in flight two. Alter dropped the first set 6-2 but responded to even the match with a 6-3 win in the second. Alter and Liang played to a 5-5 tie in the final set, however Liang won the final two games to take the match 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.
A day after winning her first-career singles match as a Cougar, Bernardos was matched up with Mila Milanovic (SHSU). The two played the first set to a tiebreaker with Milanovic edging Bernardos 7-6 (4) before closing the match with a 6-2 win in the second set. Bernardos will compete in the third-place match of the flight on Sunday against Sonia Madronal (UTSA) on Sunday.
After a busy day of doubles play, Mazzari was also in singles action against Evelyne Tiron (USF), where she fell 6-2, 6-2. Mazzari will play Malene Stripp (Oklahoma) on the tournament's final day.
The final round of singles play will begin at 9 a.m., on Sunday.
UP NEXT FOR HOUSTON
In early September, Dimitrova was selected for the ITA Women's All-American Championships. Dimitrova will travel to Pacific Palisades, Calif, to compete in the pre-qualifying round across Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, while the qualifying round will be held Oct. 3-4 and the main draw will run Oct. 5-8.
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