Santiago Gaughan/The Cougar
UH tennis hosted its first tournament of the 2021 fall season at the Barbara Wallace Winston Tennis Facility with Rice, North Texas and SMU all participating in the events over the weekend.
Here’s a closer look at what happened in the tournament:
Saturday
Weather disrupted the original scheduling, causing Friday’s play to be canceled and stayed present into Saturday, causing a five-hour delay just 30-minutes into the doubles matches.
The Cougars got off to a rough start after the rain delay, losing all three of the doubles matches against pairs from Rice and North Texas.
UH’s freshmen pairing of Elena Trencheva and Maria Dzemeshkevich surprised many and kept their match close against the Owl pairing of senior Diae El Jardi and junior Maria Budin, ultimately falling 8-9 to make it the tightest of the three losses.
The previously ranked pair of junior Azul Pedemonti and sophomore Blanca Cortijo Parreno fell 7-9 in their match together.
Singles were more favorable for the Cougars as they were able to tally three wins out of seven matches, including Pedemonti picking up the win over Mustang senior Katherine Jakeway (6-4, 7-5).
The other Cougars who won their match included sophomores Gabriela Giraldo and Laura Slisane.
Grialdo defeated the Mustang sophomore Winslow Huth 6-2, 6-3 and Slisane was awarded the win after her match was retired as she led 2-1.
Sunday
Sunday was another struggle for UH tennis, finding themselves winless after all four of the doubles matches and winning just one singles match.
The closest of the doubles came from the paring of an Owl and a Cougar, with UH junior Manasi Reddy teaming up with Rice senior Anna Bowtell in a 7-9 loss to the Mean Green pair of junior Sophia Hummel and freshman Likhitha Kalava.
The lone singles win came from Cortijo Parreno, as she defeated Kalava in a dominant 6-3, 6-3 performance.
The Cougars will compete at TCU next for the fall regionals competition beginning on October 14 and will conclude October 17.
