Senior tennis player Neila Starratt capped an impressive three-day run at the Alonti Cougar Fall Draw, winning the singles Flight D bracket by knocking off Southeastern Louisiana’s Annika Hanke, 7-5, 6-0.
The win gave Starratt a 3-0 record in singles play for the weekend, but her success didn’t end there. Starratt also teamed up with Elena Kazakova to defeat Inga Efimenko and Tea Tvrtkovic of McNeese State, 8-2, to capture the Flight C doubles bracket.
Other Cougars in singles action included sophomore Joanna Kacprzyk, who dropped the Flight B consolation match to Morgane Dadot of Southeastern Louisiana, 6-4, 6-2.
Kazakova also saw the court as a solo competitor and bounced back after dropping the first set of the Flight D consolation match to defeat Francesca Bassoo of Lee College, 2-6, 6-4, 10-6.
Freshman Alexandra Pickerill also competed but dropped her Flight E consolation match.
The Cougars won’t return to competitive action until Jan. 30, 2010, when they travel to McNeese State for the first match of the spring season.
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Women prepare to take the court‘
The UH women’s basketball season gets underway today – sort of. The Cougars will host the semi-professional Houston Jaguars at 7 p.m. at Hofheinz Pavilion, giving fans their first glimpse of a team that boasts four returning starters.
It will be the Cougars’ lone exhibition game of the season before the team travels to Boiling Springs, N.C., to face Gardner-Webb on Friday.
The Jaguars, a traveling team that allows players to continue their playing careers after college, have several former Cougars on their roster. Sha’Ratta Hawkins (2006-07), Tye Jackson (2005-08), Chandi Jones (2000-04), Sunshine Misa-Uli (2006-07) and Darla Simpson (1988-92) are all UH products that will be trying to recapture their Cullen comfort zone.’
