Senior Charlotte Phillips has had great success in tournament play so far this year, finishing out the fall season with an undefeated doubles performance in this past weekend’s Jason’s Deli Collegiate Invitational with junior teammate Rocio Martin. Phillips can now look forward to getting ready for the spring season starting in January. | File Photo/The Cougar
The Jason’s Deli Invitational got off to an explosive start for the Cougars as they and Northwestern State were the undefeated teams of Friday’s matches. One Cougar led the pack as her day two efforts gave her a victory without dropping any sets.
The tennis team is easily becoming UH’s strongest and most organized team. The No. 38 Cougars didn’t lose any matches Friday against Kansas State. The Cougars completed and won a total six matches.
Junior Rocio Martin had to fight to overpower her opponent, senior Amina St. Hill, who recorded an overall singles record of 16-13 as a junior. Martin showed strength as she got a win with a 6-1, 4-6, 10-6 score. Both she and teammate senior Charlotte Phillips survived three set matches against the Wildcats.
For Saturday’s play, the Cougars traveled to the Jack Hess Tennis stadium to compete against Rice rivals as well as a Louisiana Tech opponent. The scores Saturday reflect Houston control of the court. Each of the four Cougars that participated in day two came out on top.
Senior Elena Kordolaimi had an almost perfect score with a 6-0, 6-1 dominant win over Rice’s Allison Ho. Freshman Angela Lorenzo had an even better showing as she posted a 6-0,6-0 win over the only Lousiana Tech challenger Haley Ballinger. Lorenzo has won two consecutive tournament titles this fall and her consecutive wins became the high point of day two of the invitational.
The Spaniard is used to winning. Prior to her Houston career, Lorenzo had success in winning a U-18 National title and was ranked as high as No. 41 in the Spanish Women’s Open rankings as a junior competitor. She fits right in with the rest of her team, who have shown they don’t like to let their crowd down. The Houston team added three more victories during day two as Martin and Phillips stayed on the leaderboard with an impressive 8-1 domination over a Rice doubles team.
Day three of the tournament came back to the John E. Hoff Courts at UH for what would be the perfect ending for Kordolaimi, as well as Martin and Phillips.
Martin and Phillips ended the tournament 3-0 as they defeated Prarie View A&M’ Sydney Thomas and Taylor LeFridge 8-0. Despite falling in her doubles match with Lorenzo, Kordolaimi took down fellow USTA/ITA Texas Regional semifinalist Alexis Pereira from TCU 6-0 and 6-4 to cap her 3-0 weekend in singles play.
The Jason’s Deli Collegiate Invitational marks the end of the fall season for all but sophomore Despoina Vogasari. Vogasari earned a spot at the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships in New York after winning the Texas Regional Championships last month. Vogasari will compete in the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center from Nov. 6-9.
