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Sports

Cougars sweep away competition 

by MARK SUAREZ
The Daily Cougar

Some habits are hard to break, and if the Cougars had their way, maintaining their undefeated record at home is a trend that would never be broken.

This weekend Houston stayed true to its winning form after sweeping through a three-match home stand to begin the year, and in the process, pushed its overall winning streak at the John E. Hoff Tennis Courts to 21 matches, which dates back to 2005.

The Cougars posted victories over Louisiana Tech 6-1 and Lee College 5-2 Friday, and completed the sweep Sunday against Stephen F. Austin in flawless fashion, 7-0.

In the Houston's final home-clinching match over the Ladyjacks, sophomore Vicki Simpson emerged from the fifth court with 6-1, 6-3 victory over Tatiana Smolnikova to clinch a UH win.

"These are matches that we should win," Simpson said after the match. We just have to stay consistent and hopefully if we keep working hard this will be a sign of things to come."

UH began the match by taking the doubles point 7-8 (3-7), 8-2 and 8-3. The tandems of senior Sonja Nikolic, juniors Rebecca Franzi and Simpson and freshman Neila Starratt emerged victorious to overcome a 1-0 deficit.

For UH head coach John Severance, winning the point in come from behind fashion was a little too close for comfort.

"I was a little worried after the doubles point because we played some pretty flat doubles at the one spot," Severance said. "I was a little worried we might come out flat in singles but that definitely wasn't the case."

In singles action, the Cougars saved the dramatics for another time. Senior Loli Gomez was dominating in a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Laura Harrison to give Houston a 2-0 lead. In the second court, Leila Salek won five consecutive games in the first set en route to a 6-2, 6-1 win to put Houston one match away from victory. From that point, Simpson, Nikolic, Franzi and freshman Ana Djananova emerged to complete Houston's win.

On Friday, Houston kicked things off by taking the doubles point 8-3, 8-2, and 8-5 against Louisiana Tech. From there, Simpson, Salek, and Franzi emerged with victories in singles.

Against Lee College, the Cougars picked up a 5-2 victory after taking the doubles point and winning four out of five singles matches. Salek emerged from the second court with a 7-6, 6-0 win over Natalie Araya for the fourth clinching point.

After watching the Cougars sweep away the competition, Severance said the team is beginning to gel.

"I think we're still learning. Today we were a little more vocal as a team than we were on Friday," Severance said. "The more we start competing the team will become closer and I think that is what is happening right now. I think we'll have an identity soon, we're getting closer as a group."

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