Women’s Tennis tops Houston, 5-0 in NCAA Championships First Round, awaits Texas A&M Saturday

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – No. 23 Texas (13-12) earned the doubles point and recorded four singles wins in a 5-0 victory over No. 34 Houston (21-6) Friday in the opening round of the NCAA Championships at Texas A&M's Mitchell Tennis Center.

The Longhorns claimed their 11^th consecutive first-round match at the NCAA Championships and improved to 46-29 all-time at the event.  Texas will meet the winner of Friday's Texas A&M-Stony Brook contest in the second round on Saturday (3 p.m. CT).  Thunderstorms in College Station have delayed the start of the Texas A&M-Stony Brook match until at least 6 p.m. CT.

Texas opened the match with wins at the third and first doubles positions to secure the doubles point.  Senior Juliana Gajic and junior Lina Padegimaite led off with an impressive 8-0 win over Houston's Rocio Martin Fernandez and Charlotte Phillips at third doubles.

The doubles clincher came from UT sophomore Breaunna Addison and senior Elizabeth Begley at the first position.  Addison and Begley broke Houston's Elena Kordolaimi and Despoina Vogasari for a 4-2 lead and held serve the rest of the way to close out an 8-3 win and clinch the doubles point.  The remaining match at second doubles was suspended.

Addison pushed the Texas lead to 2-0 behind her 11^th consecutive victory at No. 1 singles.  Addison took the first set 6-3, but with a 4-2 second-set lead, Addison lost her serve and enabled Houston's 86^th-ranked Vogasari to pull even.  Addison, however, broke Vogasari's serve and held serve in the ensuing game to close out her 6-3, 6-4 win.  Addison hasn't dropped a match since the Longhorns took on Michigan indoors on March 8.

UT freshman Pippa Horn took early command of her match against Houston's Fraser at fifth singles and claimed the first set, 6-1.  Horn held a 5-2 second-set lead, but Fraser broke Horn and twice held serve to even the set at five.  The set progressed to a tiebreaker, where Horn seized control of the match.  Horn won the tiebreaker by a 7-1 count to push the Texas lead to 3-0.

Texas freshman Neda Koprcina and UT's Padegimaite finished their matches almost simultaneously to provide the Longhorns their match-clinching points.  At fourth singles, Koprcina took the first set from Houston's Maria Cardenas, 6-1.  Koprcina trailed 4-2 in the second set before holding serve and breaking Cardenas three times to assume a 6-5 lead. Cardenas broke Koprcina to force a second-set tiebreaker where Koprcina prevailed, 7-4 to clinch the win for Texas.  A moment later, UT's Padegimaite sealed a 6-4, 6-2 win over Houston's Rocio Martin Hernandez at sixth singles.  The matches on the two remaining courts were suspended.

The Longhorns face old conference foe Texas A&M in the second round Saturday at 3 p.m. CST. Click here for live scoring and video updates.

No. 23 Texas 5, No. 34 Houston 0

NCAA Championships First Round (Round of 64)
Doubles – Order of Finish:  3, 1
1 Breaunna Addison/Elizabeth Begley (UT) def. Elena Kordolaimi/Despoina Vogasari (UH) 8-3
2 Ratnika Batra/Neda Koprcina (UT) vs. Cardenas/Rupert (UH) – 5-4, susp.
3 Juliana Gajic/Lina Padegimaite (UT) def. Rocio Martin Fernandez/Charlotte Phillips (UH) – 8-0

Singles – Order of Finish:  1, 5, 4, 6
1 No. 12 Breaunna Addison (UT) def. No. 86 Despoina Vogasari (UH) – 6-3, 6-4
2 No. 119 Elizabeth Begley (UT) vs. Elena Kordolaimi (UH) – 7-5, 4-0, susp.
3 Ratnika Batra (UT) vs. Tina Rupert (H) – 6-4, 5-3, susp.
4 Neda Koprcina (UT) def. Maria Cardenas (UH) – 6-1, 7-6 (4)
5 Pippa Horn (UT) def. Celia Fraser (UH) – 6-1, 7-6 (1)
6 Lina Padegimaite (UT) def. Rocio Martin Fernandez (UH) – 6-4, 6-2

Content courtesy of UT Athletic Department