The No. 28 UH tennis team defeated SMU 4-0 on Wednesday, finishing off the regular season with a record-winning streak of 16.
Entering the game, SMU led the series history with 22 games to 9, adding a little more motivation to close out strong for the hot streaked Cougars.
“Yeah, it was big for us,” said head coach Patrick Sullivan. “SMU is a big rival for us, and the all-time record against them is not so good, so it’s one that we take a little bit of extra pride in each year.”
Before the game, the team honored seniors Elena Kordolaimi and Charlotte Phillips in their final home match, bringing many fans to support their Cougars.
“It was awesome to have a nice crowd on senior day,” said Sullivan. “I want to thank marketing for getting some pizzas out here and enticing people to come.”
The Cougars took the lead early, winning the doubles point, and frustration started to show in SMU as Houston won the first round of the singles match on all 6 courts as the Cougars continued to keep their composure.
“It’s an emotional game,” Sullivan said. “It’s a tough game in which to stay steady the whole time. I feel this season we have done a much better job with that as we’ve matured and had a few tough losses under our belt and started to understand that the attitude we show on the outside affects us on the inside which affects our play.”
Three of the Cougars won on the second round of the singles match, leaving the other three unfinished and giving UH the 4-0 win.
The UH tennis team enters the American Athletic Conference Tournament on April 15 in Tulsa.
“We’ll have some good practices here on the next week and just try to rest our bodies up to show up fully healthy,” Sullivan said.
