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Sports

UH suffers first loss of season at Texas A&M

by Mark Suarez
The Daily Cougar

The Cougars traveled to No. 29 Texas A&M Saturday with one thing in mind -- to see where they stacked-up nationally. UH began the match battling in the No. 2 and No.3 doubles position, trailing 3-2, but it did not take long for the Aggies to take charge.

Texas A&M (4-1) took the doubles point after emerging from all three courts with 8-3 victories. The Aggies then swept the remaining six singles matches en route to a 7-0 win over Houston (5-1). 

UH began the year 5-0 for only the fifth time in program's history prior to Saturday's loss, but UH head coach John Severance remained optimistic his team would benefit from the defeat in the long run. 

"There were a few points here and there that made the difference. It was a good lesson for our team to learn," Severance told uhcougars.com. 

In singles action, Houston dropped all six matches in straight sets. Freshman Neila Starratt fell behind 6-0 to Texas A&M senior Nicki Mechem in the first set before falling in a hard fought second set 6-4. Junior Tiffany Clifford clinched the match for the Aggies after emerging from the fifth court with a 6-0, 6-3 win over UH senior Sonja Nikolic. 

Friday, the Cougars had better fortune against Tarleton State and Trinity University as they picked up a pair of 6-1 wins at Lee College. 

Against Tarleton State, junior Rebecca Franzi and senior Sonja Nikolic got things started by winning the first doubles match 8-1. Senior Loli Gomez and junior Leila Salek then clinched the doubles point after registering an 8-2 win over sophomore Chrissie Cooper and junior Shannon Wallis. 

From there UH had no problems putting away the TexAnns in singles action. Salek got the best of Cooper for the second time after tallying a 6-0, 6-2 in the second court. 

And after senior Loli Gomez emerged victorious 6-2, 6-1 in the first court, sophomore Vicki Simpson clinched the match for Houston after defeating freshman Evgeniya Prokofeva 6-1, 6-1 in the sixth court. 

The Cougars will be back in action at the John E. Hoff Tennis Courts next weekend. UH will face North Texas at 2:00 p.m. Friday followed by a match against No. 61 Florida State with first serve set for noon.

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