UH tennis senior Phonexay Chitdara, who played key stretches for the Cougars over the weekend, stretches for the ball in a match in 2019. | File photo
The Houston tennis team had a busy weekend against Incarnate Word, UTSA and Texas State, playing all three back-to-back during the three-day span.
The Cougars swept through the weekend, winning all three meets and improving to a 4-1 record for the season thus far. Here’s how the weekend went:
Incarnate Word
The Cougars won their matchup against Incarnate Word 6-1 overall on the day, making it the third straight win against the Cardinals overall. Houston won three of the four singles to take place and both doubles.
The doubles kicked off with freshman Blanca Cortijo Parreno and sophomore Azul Pedemonti defeating UIW’s pair of redshirt junior Alejandra Landaluce and freshman Kinga Psut in a 6-2 win.
UH seniors Mimi Kendall-Woseley and Phonexay Chitdara won their match against UIW senior Sara Djurdjevic and sophomore Brandelyn Fulgenzi with a score of 6-4 to remain undefeated as a pair and finish off the doubles. Match three did not take place.
The Cougars had a solid day in the singles as well with big performances from freshman Gabriela Giraldo, who swept Landaluce (6-0, 6-0) and Cortijo defeated Psut (6-3, 6-0).
Three matches were dubbed “win by default” for the Cougars.
UTSA
The Cougars played against the Roadrunners as they looked for win No. 8 against them all time, and they did just that, improving to 8-0 all-time against the UTSA with a score of 5-2.
The UH tennis team lost both doubles matches that were completed and there was one left unfinished, but these losses included the pair of Kendall-Woseley and Chitdara losing their first match of the season when paired together, losing 6-4.
Singles was where UH was able to come back swinging, taking five of the six singles.
Big performances included Chitdara’s near sweep of UTSA junior Catalina Cabrique (6-1, 6-0) and UH freshman Laura Slisane and Pedemonti’s matches, which both went to three sets.
Slisane won her match (7-6, 3-6, 6-0) against UTSA freshman Alexandra Weir and Pedemonti won her match (7-6, 6-7, 6-1) in a nail biter against UTSA sophomore Keegan McCain.
Texas State
The Cougars finished the weekend in San Marcos where they defeated the Texas State Bobcats 6-1, improving to 8-0 overall against the Bobcats all-time.
The Cougars won two doubles and five singles during Sunday’s contest and cruised to victory in completion of the weekend.
Doubles saw big performances from Chitdara and Gerits, who won the first match of the day (6-3) and Pedemonti and Giraldo also winning 6-1, dominating in their match.
The singles saw UH’s Kendall-Woseley breeze through her matchup, winning 6-2, 6-1 and Chitdara, who also won a doubles’ earlier in the day, also won her match but in a much closer fashion (7-6, 6-2).
UH finished the weekend strong. The Cougars come back home on Friday to face Lamar and then Texas Tech on Sunday.
