University of Houston
River Oaks Invitational
Houston Wins Five Matches at River Oaks Invitational
10/27/2018 1:06:00 AM | Tennis
Cougars pick up four doubles, one singles victory on tournament’s first day
HOUSTON – The Houston Cougar Women's Tennis team picked up five wins on the first day of the River Oaks Invitational, on Friday at River Oaks Country Club.
Action began in doubles play, where Phonexay Chitdara and Sophie Gerits picked up Houston's first win of the afternoon with a victory over Petra Granic and Tijana Spasojevic (Texas). The Cougars defeated the Texas team 6-3.
Chitdara and Gerits would return to action later in the afternoon, falling to Adriana Reami and Amanda Rebol of North Carolina State 7-5.
Houston's duo of Ndindi Ndunda and Elena Tairyan would pick up a pair of wins on the afternoon, sweeping a pair of teams from SMU. In their first match Ndunda and Tairyan edged Tiffany Hollebeck and Ana Perez-Lopez 6-4 before defeating Emma Pieroni and Katherine Jakeway 6-3.
The Cougars' final team in action on Friday, Stephanie Belovukovic and Constandena Nicolaou would also defeat Pieroni and Jakeway, topping the Mustangs 6-3. In their afternoon match, Belovukovic and Nicolaou would drop their match against Hollebeck and Liza Buss (SMU) 6-0.
Ndunda picked up Houston's lone win in singles play on the first day of the River Oaks Invitational. The sophomore took the first set against Victoria Smirnova (Rice) 6-1 before returning to wrap the match with a 6-1 win in the second set.
Belovukovic battled in a three-set match against Liz Norman (North Carolina State). The Cougar dropped the first set 6-3 before evening the match with a 6-3 win of her own in the second set. The final set played just as tight, however a key break gave the advantage to Norman who won 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
Chitdara also saw her match go to three sets in a matchup against Buss (SMU). Buss jumped out early with a 6-2 win in the second set, before Chitdara responded with a 6-1 win to pull even. With the third set tied at 5 apiece, Buss rallied to win the next two games to take the match.
Also in singles, Nicolaou dropped a straight-set decision to Vivienne Kulicke (SMU), 6-1, 6-2.
Houston's final singles match played just as close, as Tairyan went to three sets with Perez-Lopez of SMU. Tairyan jumped out early with a 6-2 win, however, Perez-Lopez responded with a 6-4 win in the second set, before closing out the match with a 6-3 third-set win.
SATURDAY'S SCHEDULE
The second day of the River Oaks Invitational begins at noon with a round of doubles play. Two rounds of singles play will follow throughout the day Saturday.
Gerits/Chitdara vs. Niezgoda/Huang (Rice) – Court 5
Ndunda/Tairyan vs. Moldovan/Norman (NC State) – Court 6
Belovukovic/Nicolaou vs. Kulicke/Monarrez-Yesaki (SMU) – Court 7
Chitdara vs. Hollebeck (SMU) – Court 1
Belovukovic vs. Jakeway (SMU) – Court 2
Tairyan vs. Kulicke (SMU) – Court 4
Chitdara vs. Petchey (SMU) – Court 5
Belovukovic vs. Kulicke (SMU) – Court 6
Tairyan vs. Pieroni (SMU) – Court 7
Ndunda vs. Pieroni (SMU) – Court 8
Ndunda vs. Monarrez Yesaki (SMU) – Court 8
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Players Mentioned
