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Sports
 

Cougars fall to Texas A&M

Houston drops to a 4-1 record after losing to the No. 34 ranked Aggies

COUGAR SPORTS SERVICES

The UH tennis team grabbed the momentum after jumping out to an early 1-0 lead at No. 34 Texas A&M via the doubles point on Saturday, but it didn't take long for Texas A&M to show why they were the ranked team. The Aggies racked up a furious pace in singles play on their way to 5-2 victory at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.

"We had our chances and were very much in this match," head coach John Severance said in a release. "In the end, we came up a little short losing some close matches, but I was pleased with the way that we competed out there today."

UH (4-1, 1-0 C-USA) stumbled early in doubles action after Texas A&M's No. 29 ranked pair of Anna Lubinsky and Sarah Foster knocked out Loli Gomez and Sonja Nikolic 8-3 in No. 1 doubles. The Cougars avenged the previous defeat in the No. 3 spot as Brianna Bateup and Vicky Simpson leaped out to a 5-1 lead and held on for an 8-3 victory over the Aggies' Seva Iwinksi and Marisa Druss. The doubles point was decided in the No. 2 spot on the play of Kami Miller and Yolandi Terblanche who took the Aggies to the brink in a 8-5 triumph, giving UH a 1-0 lead heading into singles play.

Texas A&M (2-2) tied the match at when Foster defeated Nikolic 6-2, 6-2 at No. 3 and moved ahead after Tiffany Clifford defeated Miller 6-2, 6-4 in the No. 4 slot. After that, the Aggies swiftly took control.

The Aggies pushed their lead to 3-1 in the No. 2 match on the heels of a 6-2, 6-4 victory by Anna Blagodarova over Bateup. The Cougars crawled to within 3-2 after Vicky Simpson stopped the bleeding with a 6-2, 6-4 victory at the No. 5 spot. She is the only Cougar to remain undefeated in singles action during the spring season.

The Aggies secured the match at No. 6 singles as Druss came back from early breaks in both sets to defeat Terblanche 7-6 (5), 7-5. In the No. 1 singles match, Lubinsky dominated the first set and the beginning of the second, before Gomez broke a 5-5 tie in the second with a 2-0 run to the victory to even up the match. Lubinsky bounced back in the deciding set to claim a 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 victory.

"Sometimes you have to lose a match to get better," Severance said. "I feel that we got better today. We'll take the positives out of this match and move on to face another ranked opponent on the road."

UH will return to the courts to conclude a four-match road trip at No. 43 LSU, facing its third consecutive ranked opponent. Last season, the Cougars dropped a 4-3 decision against the Tigers. First serve in Baton Rouge is set for noon. 
 

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