Houston Tennis Sees Success at Rice Invitational

Friday, October 29

Houston, Texas

TBA

University of Houston

Rice

10/30/2021 6:17:00 PM | Tennis

Cougars compete across the city in weekend tournament

HOUSTON – The University of Houston Tennis program competed across the city at Rice against the UT Arlington (UTA), Texas A&M, Rice, SMU and BYU for a three-day Rice Invitational.

"I'm very pleased with our effort throughout the tournament," stated Head Coach Helena Besovic. "This was a good test for us because the first couple days were extremely windy and it was difficult to play. We accepted these conditions, looked for the ways to improve, and finished on a strong note with multiple wins."

Houston saw much success in the weekend competition beginning with four pairings sweeping doubles against both Rice and UTA to start the weekend. Laura Slisane and Sophie Gerits both saw victories against Texas A&M opponents in singles play during the first day of competition.

Day two showed similar results with three pairs winning doubles against SMU and Texas A&M. Maria Dzemeshkevich defeated Helen Jiao of BYU while Blanca Cortijo Perreno came out on top against UTA's Nika Novikova.

The third day of play rounded out the weekend with the team of Slisane and Cortijo Perreno defeating Texas A&M's Isa Di Laura and Katya Townsend. The Cougars continued its momentum into singles play with Slisane, Gabriela Giraldo, Gerits, and Dzemeshkevich all scoring the last of the tournament's points for Houston.

"Our hard work in doubles is also starting to pay off as we are playing more assertively and taking control of the points at the net," expressed Besovic. "Now we have a few days to get ready for the last tournament of the fall season in Tulsa next week."

RESULTS

Day 1:

Doubles
- Pedemonti/ Dzemeshkevic won 8-6 vs Gorinsek/Chileno (UTA)
- Gerits/ Slisane won 8-6 vs Horiguchi/Novikova (UTA)
- Giraldo/ Trencheva won 8-5 vs A. Smirnova/Orav (Rice)
- Cortijo/ Reddy won 8-4 vs Reinertsen/Dumitrescu (UTA)

Singles

- Gabriela Giraldo lost 6-3, 6-4 vs Pielet (A&M)
- Laura Slisane won 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 vs Mcbryde (A&M)
- Azul Pedemonti lost 1-6, 6-2, 7-5 vs Di Laura (A&M)
- Sophie Gerits won 6-4, 7-5 vs Gownder (A&M)
- Maria Dzemeshkevic lost 7-5, 6-1 vs Smith (BYU)
- Blanca Cortijo lost 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 vs Chileno (UTA)
- Elena Trencheva lost 7-5, 6-2 vs Nivikova (UTA)
- Manasi Reddy lost 6-3, 6-1 vs Dumitrescu (UTA)

Day 2:

Doubles
- Pedemonti/ Dzemeshkevich won 9-7 vs Morris/Patel (SMU)
- Cortijo/ Slisane won 8-3 vs Bouchard/Gretzky (SMU)
- Giraldo/ Trencheva won 8-4 vs Townsend/Robbins (A&M)
- Gerits/ Reddy lost 8-5 vs Pons/Jimenez (UTA)

Singles
- Azul Pedemonti lost 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 vs Gorinsek (UTA)
- Laura Slisane lost 7-5, 6-2 vs Jimenez (UTA)
- Gabriela Giraldo lost 6-0, 6-1 vs Mireles (A&M)
- Maria Dzemeshkevich won 6-3, 6-1 vs Jiao (BYU)
- Sophie Gerits lost 6-0, 6-1 vs Smith (BYU)
- Blanca Cortijo won 6-2, 6-1 vs Novikova (UTA)
- Elena Trencheva retired 5-4 down vs Dimitrescu (UTA)
- Manasi Reddy lost 6-0, 6-0 vs Townsend (A&M)

Day 3:

Doubles
- Gerits/ Dzemeshkevich lost 8-5 vs Pittman/Robbins (A&M)
- Cortijo/ Slisane won 8-6 vs Di Laura/Townsend (A&M)
- Trencheva/ Giraldo lost 8-6 vs Astle/Smith (BYU)

Singles
- Laura Slisane won 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 vs Morris (SMU)
- Gabriela Giraldo won 6-1, 6-1 vs Patel (SMU)
- Sophie Gerits won 7-5, 6-4 vs Gretzky (SMU)
- Maria Dzemeshkevich won 6-1, 6-0 vs Bouchard (SMU)
- Blanca Coritjo retired 4-2 up vs Jiao (BYU)
- Manasi Reddy lost 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 vs Robbins (A&M)

UP NEXT
The Cougars will compete at the Tulsa Invitational Nov. 5-7 in Tulsa, Okla.

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