University of Houston Athletics
University of Houston
SMU Invitational
Houston Wraps Up SMU Invitational
10/7/2018 10:04:00 PM | Tennis
Cougars win four matches on tournament’s final day
HOUSTON – The Houston Cougar Women's Tennis team wrapped the second weekend of fall play with four victories on the final day of the SMU Invitational on Sunday in Dallas.
Sunday's action began with doubles play, where Stephanie Belovukovic and Elena Tairyan picked up their second-straight win with a victory over Katherine Jakeway and Emma Pieroni (SMU). The two teams played the contest close throughout, but with the score tied at five, the Cougars reeled off back-to-back games to claim the consolation final by a score of 7-5.
Houston's team of Phonexay Chitdara and Sophie Gerits advanced to the Flight 1 finals with a win on Saturday, but the duo would fall in the flight finals on Sunday. Matched up against Janina Braun and Sara Lizarturry of Mississippi State, the duo dropped their match 6-2, however they finished the weekend 2-1.
Constandena Nicolaou and Ndindi Ndunda competed in Houston's final doubles match of the day. After winning their first match as a duo on Saturday, the team dropped their contest against Momoka Horiguchi and Nanak Takeuchi (UT Arlington) 7-5, on Sunday.
In singles play on Sunday, Tairyan competed in her first flight finals after winning her first two matches in Flight 8. Tairyan and Myu Kageyama (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi) battled throughout one of the best matches of the weekend, which saw the match head to a super-tiebreaker after Tairyan dropped the first set 6-1 but fought back to win the second 6-2. The tiebreaker played just as close as the rest of the match, however Tairyan ultimately fell 11-9.
Belovukovic also made the flight finals after picking up a pair of victories in Flight 5 over the weekend. The true freshman was matched against Fuka Nonoyama (Central Arkansas) on Sunday, however she fell in straight sets 6-3, 6-0.
Houston won three singles matches on Sunday, including two from Gerits and Ndunda who were competing in their respective flight consolation finals.
Gerits claimed her second-straight win in Flight 3 with a victory over Damira Muminovic of Georgia State. Gerits and Muminovic played close in the first set, with the Cougar edging out Muminovic 7-5 before returning for a 6-4 win in the second set to seal the match.
Ndunda sealed back-to-back wins with a victory over Tiffany Hollebeck of SMU. Ndunda used a big break in the first set to win 6-4 before rolling to a 6-0 decision in the second set to clinch the match.
Chitdara picked up her first win of the weekend with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Camille Townsend of Texas A&M Corpus Christi.
Nicolaou dropped her singles match on Sunday 6-2, 6-1 to Fabienne Schmidt of Austin Peay.
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