Azul Pedemonti was the hero Sunday afternoon for the Cougars after winning the deciding match against UNT that featured three tie-breaking sets. | Sean Thomas/The Cougar.
UH tennis finally saw success on the road after coming away with a pair of wins over the weekend after cruising past Wichita State with a 5-2 win and defeating North Texas in a tight 4-3 battle.
The two wins puts the Cougars at 13-8 on the season with just one match to go before embarking on the American Athletic Conference Championship Tournament.
Wichita State
The afternoon kicked off with doubles play, where UH immediately took charge after sophomore Laura Slisane and senior Sophie Gerits shutout the Shockers team of redshirt sophomore Natsumi Kurahashi and freshman Clara Whitaker 6-0.
This was the only win needed for the Cougars to secure the point due to a win being awarded to the freshman team of Maria Dzemeshkevich and Elena Trencheva by default.
UH got another win by default to start singles play up 2-0, the win was awarded to sophomore Gabriela Giraldo.
Statement wins from junior Blanca Cortijo Parreno and Gerits put the Cougars up 4-0 and secured the win on the day, Parreno defeated Whitaker 6-0, 6-2 and Gerits got the win over graduate student Harriet Hamilton 6-2, 6-2.
The remaining three matches were played out and the Shockers were able to take two of them to avoid a shutout on the day.
North Texas
The Cougars got off to a rough start in doubles play, losing both of the matches needed for the point and putting North Texas up 1-0 going into singles play.
Dzemeshkevich and Trencheva fell first in a 6-1 loss to the UNT team of freshman Jasmine Adams and junior Sophia Hummel.
Junior Azul Pedemonti and Parreno were the next to fall, also losing 6-1 to UNT seniors Lucie Devier and Maria Ponomareva and the doubles point went to the Mean Green.
The Cougars were able to bring it back in singles play after Slisane and Giraldo were able to take the first two matches to put UH up 2-1.
North Texas came right back with a pair of wins after Parreno fell to junior Kexuan Zhou match and Gerits was defeated by Ponomareva in a tight 6-4, 6-4 battle, making it 3-2 UNT.
With just two matches left to decide a winner, UH clutched up and took both matches to come from behind and steal the win on the day.
Pedemonti was the hero for the Cougars going went toe-to-toe with UNT freshman Liisa Vehvilainen and coming away with a 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (7-5) win that needed three-straight tie-breaking sets to decide a winner.
