Andrew J. Ferraro
Staff Writer
For the first time in two years, the Cougar women's tennis team has bragging rights in the city of Houston.
It almost looked too easy, but the No. 58 ranked Cougars won four of six singles matches, two of three in doubles competition and cruised to a 6-3 upset victory over the No. 30 ranked Rice Owls at the UH Varsity Tennis Complex on Thursday afternoon.
"This is a huge win for us," said senior Susanne Andersson. "We just had the right attitude coming in. Being down 2-0 before the match even starts is tough enough, but beating them as badly as we did just goes to show how good we really are."
Because of nagging injuries to sophomore Jane Brown and freshman Joanna Cunliffe, UH was forced to forfeit two matches before the contest even started.
But no worries. The Cougars got singles wins from Andersson, who defeated Rice's Elle Lewis 6-4, 6-1; Luciane Kelbert who beat Baytown native Jennifer Velasco 6-1, 6-4; Mette Sigmundstad, who defeated Vessie Ivanova 7-5, 6-4; and No. 54 ranked Galina Seliounina who beat Justyna Gudzovska 3-6, 6-2, 7-5.
Entering doubles, the Cougars needed just one win to clinch the match but got two instead as Andersson and Sigmundstad defeated Rice's Ivanova and Sarah Borwell 8-4 and Seliounina and Kelbert beat Lewis and Feasby 8-3.
"We are getting more and more competitive each and every time we play out there," said Sigmundstad of herself and doubles partner Andersson.
"We still have a shot of making the NCAA's, and it is wins like this that will help us out.
"We can't afford to have any more bad losses, and it was good to win like this today," Sigmundstad said.
With the win over Rice, the Cougars improved to 11-12 lifetime against the Owls and ended a two-year, two-match slide versus their cross-town rivals.
"Going in we're always a little more eager to beat Rice," Andersson said. "It feels good to beat them and to have bragging rights for awhile."
With the win, Houston is now 9-9 and within reach of breaking the .500 mark for the first time since Feb. 21.
Saturday, the Cougars will face the No. 28 New Mexico Lobos in their final regular-season match of the year before hosting the Conference USA tournament next week.
Match time on Saturday is slated for 11:00 a.m. and will be played at the UH Varsity Tennis Complex.