University of Houston Athletics
University of Houston
No. 52 SMU
No. 71 Tennis Stumbles Against No. 52 SMU
4/2/2006 12:00:00 AM | Tennis
April 2, 2006
EL PASO - The No. 71 University of Houston tennis team dropped a 5-2 decision against No. 52 SMU Sunday morning at the El Paso Tennis Club.
"It was a tight match all across the board," head coach John Severance said. "It could have gone either way. It wasn't a bad loss by any stretch of the imagination. This type of a match will make us hungrier at the conference tournament."
The Cougars (16-4, 3-1 C-USA) had its four-match winning streak snapped and lost for the first time in four matches in Conference USA action.
After splitting the first two doubles matches, the doubles point came down to the bottom of the lineup. With the score tied at 7-7, SMU's (15-5, 4-0 C-USA) Brooke and Halley Rambally surged past Brianna Bateup and Vicky Simpson 9-7 giving the Mustangs the 1-0 advantage.
Georgiana Marta and Halley Rambally pushed the SMU advantage to 3-0 with straight set wins at No. 3 and No. 6 singles, respectfully.
Houston stayed alive as Kami Miller emerged with a strong 6-3, 6-0 win in the No. 4 hole. Miller is now only one shy of moving into No. 7 all-time in career singles victories.
The momentum was short-lived when Svetlana Kouzmenko erased an early break at the top of the lineup picking up a 7-6, 6-4 victory clinching the match.
"SMU proved today that why they are top ranked team in our league," Severance said. "I give them credit because today they played a more discipline brand of tennis than we did."
Brianna Bateup concluded the match with a hard-fought 7-6, 7-5 win in the No. 2 slot for the final margin of 5-2.
The Cougars return to the friendly confines of Hoff Courts Friday against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Houston is undefeated at home this season as first serve against the Islanders is set for 1pm.
"We're excited about coming back home," Severance said. "These upcoming matches will give us a chance to fine tune our game before the conference tournament."
No. 52 SMU 5, No. 71 Houston 2
Doubles 1. Kouzmenko/Bubien (SMU) def. Gomez/Nikolic (UH), 8-0
2. Miller/Yolandi Terblanche (UH) def. Reid/Monica Neveklovska (SMU), 8-6
3. B. Rambally/H. Rambally (SMU) def. Bateup/Simpson (UH), 9-7
Order of finish: 1, 2, 3
Singles
No. 1 - Kouzmenko (SMU) d. Gomez (UH), 7-6 (4), 6-4
No. 2 - Bateup (UH) d. Bubien (SMU), 7-6, 7-5
No. 3 - Marta (SMU) d. Nikolic (UH), 6-1, 6-2
No. 4 - Miller (UH) d. Reid (SMU), 6-3, 6-0
No. 5 - Brooke Rambally (SMU) d. Simpson (UH), 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
No. 6 - Halley Rambally (SMU) d. Reimer (UH), 7-6, 6-1
Order of finish: 3, 6, 4, 1, 5, 2
Players Mentioned
