University of Houston
ITA Regional Championships
Houston Trio Advances to ITA Regional’s Second Day
10/18/2018 6:34:00 PM | Tennis
Cougars win seven singles, three doubles matches on first day in College Station
HOUSTON – A trio of Houston Cougar Women's Tennis student-athletes advanced to the second day of the ITA Texas Regional after Houston won seven singles and three doubles matches on Thursday, in College Station, Texas.
The morning began with doubles play, where Houston's team of Elena Tairyan and Ndindi Ndunda picked up the Cougars' first win of the tournament. Tairyan and Ndunda defeated Nidhi Surapaneni and Minying Liang of North Texas 6-2 to advance to the Round of 32.
In the second round, Tairyan and Ndunda drew the No. 1 overall seed, Bojana Markovic and Petra Granic (Texas), who entered the season ranked No. 21 in the ITA Oracle Collegiate Tennis Rankings. Houston's duo dropped the match 6-3.
The Cougar duo of Phonexay Chitdara and Sophie Gerits drew a first-round bye out of the Round of 64 and met Texas State's team of Sofia Murcia and Josefina Cassara in the Round of 32. Chitdara and Gerits would advance later in the afternoon after topping Murica/Cassara 6-2.
Chitdara and Gerits advanced to the Round of 16, where they will meet Prairie View A&M's team of Claudia Andrea Islas Medina and Constanza Aranguiz at 8:45 a.m., Friday.
Also in doubles action, the Cougar pairing of Constandena Nicolaou and Stephanie Belovukovic dropped its opening round matchup against Victoria Kareh and Brandelyn Fulgenzi (UIW) 6-4.
In singles play, Chitdara picked up the Cougars' first victory of the tournament with a straight-set win over Vera Carvalho of Stephen F. Austin. Chitdara dropped just one game in the match, winning 6-1, 6-0 to advance to the Round of 64,
In the second round, Chitdara advanced to face Maria Kononova (UNT), who entered as the No. 17 seed in the tournament. The Houston junior fell in her matchup against Kononova, 6-1, 6-3.
Belovukovic kept the winning ways going for the Cougars with a straight-set victory of her own in the Round of 128. Belovukovic topped Prairie View A&M's Lucia Garcia 6-1, 6-3 to advance to the Round of 64.
In the second round, Belovukovic was matched against the nation's No. 1 singles player Anna Turati (Texas), where she fell 6-0, 6-2.
Nicolaou picked up Houston's third straight-set victory of the morning with a win over Katarina Sasaroga (UTRGV) in the Round of 128. Nicolaou dropped just one game in the first set, winning 6-1, before returning to take the second set 6-4.
Nicolaou advanced to meet the No. 3 seed in the tournament, Denise-Antonela Stoica (Texas Tech) in the second round, where she eventually fell 6-3, 7-5.
Tairyan was the next Cougar to add a victory with a thrilling straight-set win over Doris Aleksovska of UTRGV. Tairyan and Aleksovska battled in the first set, with the Cougar prevailing 7-6(4) before winning the second set 6-4.
Tairyan advanced to the Round of 64, where she met the No.4 seed Tijana Spasojevic (Texas). The redshirt freshman dropped her match against the Longhorn, 6-2, 6-3.
Ndunda followed Tairyan just minutes later with Houston's fifth singles win of the afternoon, taking a three-set match against Ana Perez (Texas State). Ndunda won the first set 6-4, before Perez answered with a 6-4 win of her own to even the score. With the third set playing as a tiebreaker, Ndunda ultimately prevailed and advanced to the second round, where she met Petra Kaszas.
Ndunda and Kaszas would play another tight match with a trip to the Round of 32 on the line. Ndunda fell behind early after dropping the first set 6-4 but rallied to even the match with a 6-4 win of her own in the second. Again heading to a tiebreaker, Ndunda would prevail to take the match 4-6, 6-4, 1-0.
Ndunda will meet Stoica (Texas Tech) in the third round, Friday at 9:30 a.m.
Gerits made it a clean sweep of first round matches for the Cougars with Houston's sixth win of the morning singles sessions. Gerits bested Michelle Walker (UTRGV) 7-5, 6-2 to advance to the Round of 64.
In the second round, Gerits drew the No. 2 seed Granic (Texas). Gerits played the Longhorn as close as she could in the match, dropping the first set 6-4 and battling to a 5-5 tie in the second set, before ultimately falling 7-5.
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