University of Houston Athletics
Houston Set for Texas Regional Championships
10/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Tennis
HOUSTON - The University of Houston Tennis team continues their fall season this weekend at one of the top events on the calendar, the USTA/ITA Texas Regional Championships. The event begins Thursday and ends Monday at the Mitchell Tennis Center on the campus of Texas A&M in College Station.
The annual Texas Regional Championships bring the top NCAA Division I competitors from the state of Texas to College Station. Tournament information, including updated results and draw sheets, is available here.
The winner of the event automatically qualifies for the 2015 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, to be held Nov. 12-15 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y.
Two Cougars, junior Despoina Vogasari and sophomore Mina Markovic, will take part in the Texas Regional Championships.
Vogasari is 4-1 on the season after splitting a pair of matches at the Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championships in Pacific Palisades, Calif. The junior defeated No. 63 Clementina Riobueno of Miami, Fla., in her opening match, 6-4, 6-1, but was eliminated by Ohio State's Francesca Di Lorenzo, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, in the Second Round of Qualifying.
Vogasari also took part in the Rice Invitational in September, winning all three of her No. 1 Singles Flight matches.
The junior from Athens, Greece, enters the weekend ranked No. 42 in the preseason ITA National Singles Rankings, highest among players from the American Athletic Conference and fourth-best among singles competitors from the state of Texas. Vogasari sports a 59-18 career record, and her .766 career winning percentage is ranked third in Houston history.
Markovic is making her season debut at the Texas Regionals. The sophomore from Belgrade, Serbia, went 14-8 as a freshman, including a 5-2 record against American foes. This will be Markovic's first career fall tournament after she joined the Cougars in January of 2015.
In addition to competing in the singles draw, Vogasari and Markovic will team up for doubles play. The duo went 1-2 with a pair of unfinished matches in five matches together last season.
 | UH'S TEXAS REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS HISTORY |
Vogasari captured the Texas Regional Championship in 2014, winning the historic tournament for the first time in Houston history. Then a sophomore, Vogasari took out all six of her opponents in straight sets, including three wins over ranked competition. In the Finals, she defeated No. 93 Natalie Beazant of Rice, 6-4, 6-4.
Though she will not participate in College Station this weekend, Houston senior Maria Cardenas also competed at the Texas Regionals in 2014. Cardenas went 2-2 last season, winning a pair of Consolation Round matches.
| UP NEXT FOR HOUSTON |
The Cougars will begin their 2016 spring championship season in mid-January. The 2016 slate will be released at a later date.
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