The tennis team split their doubles matches and swept their singles en route to a 4-1 finish at the Rice Invitational. | Catherine Lara/The Cougar
It was a busy weekend for Cougar athletics as soccer, volleyball, cross country and tennis teams all saw action over the weekend, in addition to football capturing their fourth win.
Here is a recap of how the various teams fared:
Soccer
The Cougars capped off non-conference play with their best record ever, going 5-1-1 following a 3-2 Senior Day victory over New Mexico State University on Friday night.
Sophomore forward Desiree Bowen provided all the scoring for the Cougars as she picked up her first career hat trick and an early 3-0 lead for the Cougars.
Bowen’s first goal came in the third minute off of an assist by junior Selena Peters. She also added another goal seven minutes later that was assisted by senior Shayne Clewett to give the Cougars a 2-0 lead.
Just before the half, Bowen found the net for a third time with just 45 seconds to spare before the buzzer.
New Mexico State added two goals in the second half, but the Cougar defense rallied to secure the 3-2 victory.
Volleyball
Volleyball (5-7, 0-1) started conference play Friday night at the University of Connecticut, falling to the Huskies 3-0 (20-25, 21-25, 11-25).
UConn improved to 10-2 on the season as they outhit the Cougars .304 to .085, with a 46-31 advantage in kills.
Junior outside hitters Brianna Lynch and Sarah Afflerbaugh led the way for the Cougars offensively, picking up nine and eight kills respectively.
Senior setter Keandra McCardell, meanwhile, contributed 22 assists.
Cross country
Both the men’s and women’s teams picked up ninth-place finishes at the Texas A&M Invitational Saturday.
Redshirt senior Selena Sierra continued her dominant start to the season, picking up her third straight top finish on the team for the Cougars, finishing in 21:45.3, good enough for 27th.
Senior Maria Gonzalez was next with a 22:49.6 (60th), with Emely Morgado close behind at 23:05.4 (75th). Sophomore Jennifer Dunlap’s 23:17.7 (81st) and junior Ebony White’s 23.42.3 (93rd) wrapped up the scoring for the Cougars.
On the men’s side, sophomore G. J. Reyna finished 25th with a time of 25:12.8. This is his third consecutive time as the first Cougar to cross the line.
Redshirt junior Matthew Parmley was next — finishing 25:55.3 (48th) with redshirt freshman Cameron Laverty not far behind at 26:34.5 (76th).
Lastly, redshirt freshman Kody Anderson’s 26.56.2 and Nicholas Hamilton’s 27:12.1 finished out the scoring for the Cougars, finishing in 92nd and 106th respectively.
Tennis
The Cougars kicked off their season at the Rice Invitational, going 4-1 on Saturday, splitting the doubles matches and ending undefeated in singles.
Freshman Tsveta Dimitrova and junior Sveva Mazzari began the morning with a 6-2 victory over Tulane University, advancing to the doubles finals against the Rice University Owls. After a back-and-forth contest, the Cougars fell just short and lost to the Owls, 7-5.
In singles, Dimitrova continued to dominate by beating Carla Cerdan of the University of Texas-Arlington in straight sets 6-0, 6-1. Mazzari added the second straight-set victory for the Cougars with her win against Kylee Kato of the University of Texas at San Antonio, 6-3 and 6-4.
Junior Ana Glumac followed up a victory Friday with another on Saturday, winning in three sets (6-1, 0-6, 7-5) against Kateryna Avram of Northwestern State.
