Tennis Ready for SMU Invitational (Friday - 3 Singles W, 1 Doubles W) (Saturday - 7 Ws, 3 to Flight finals)

The three-day event kicks off Friday with doubles action, where a trio of Houston’s teams will be in action beginning at 11 a.m. Phonexay Chitdara and Sophie Gerits will meet Meredith Roberts and Tamara Racine of Mississippi State in Flight 1, while Constandena Nicolaou and Ndindi Ndunda will face Damira Muminovic and Eva Chivu of Georgia State in Flight 2, and Stephanie Belovukovic and Elena Tairyan square off against Abidullina Adel-Byanu and Kirtana Bhat of Central Oklahoma in Flight 3.

Chitdara and Nicolaou will each open singles play against student-athletes from Mississippi State in the first round of Flight 2 beginning at 1 p.m., Friday. Chitdara matches up against Racine, while in the bottom half of the bracket, Nicolaou will face Sara Lizariturry.

Gerits’ second-career tournament will open against Sarah Adams of Abilene Christian in Flight 3 at 1 p.m., while Ndunda will be in action in Flight 4 against Momoka Horiguch (UT Arlington) at 1:30 p.m.

Belovukovic hits the court for Flight 5 singles against Helena Kuppig (Austin Peay) at 2:30 p.m., while Tairyan opens her fall season with a match against Yada Vasupongchai (Central Arkansas) at 4 p.m.

Action began with doubles play, where junior Phonexay Chitdara and freshman Sophie Gerits advanced to the semifinal round of Flight 1 with a victory over Meredith Roberts and Tamara Racine of Mississippi State. Chitdara and Gerits cruised to a 6-3 victory to advance to meet Ana Perez-Lopez and Karina Traxler (SMU) at 10 a.m., Saturday.

Houston picked up a singles win from Ndunda after a straight-set victory in the first round of Flight 4. Ndunda rolled to a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Momoka Horiguchi (UT Arlington) to advance to the flight semifinals. Ndunda will meet Lee Barnard (Middle Tennessee State), Saturday.

Belovukovic also tabbed a victory on Saturday, advancing to the Flight 5 semifinals after a win over Helena Kuppig of Austin Peay. Belovukovic dropped just one game in the first set, taking a 6-1 advantage, before Kuppig answered with a 6-0 win to even the match. The decisive set followed the theme of the match, playing down to the wire, however Belovukovic pulled off a 7-6 (5) victory to seal the match. Belovukovic advances to meet Katherine Jakeway (SMU) on Saturday.

Houston’s final win of the afternoon came from Tairyan, who made her season debut against Yada Vasupongchai in Flight 8. Tairyan and Vasupongchai played back-and-forth in the first set before Tairyan prevailed 7-5,. The redshirt freshman returned in the second set to cruise to a 6-2 win and clinch her first victory. Tairyan moves on to face Sylvia Viljoen (Abilene Christian) on Saturday in the semifinals.

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The day began with junior Phonexay Chitdara and freshman Sophie Gerits advancing to the Flight 1 finals of doubles play with a win over Ana Perez-Lopez and Karina Traxler of SMU. In a tight match that went down to the wire, Houston’s duo prevailed 7-6 to move on to face Janina Braun and Sara Lizariturry of Mississippi State in the finals at 9 a.m., Sunday.

Constandena Nicolaou and Ndindi Ndunda picked up their first doubles victory of the fall with a win in the Flight 2 consolation round over Autumn Crossnoe and Allison Stewart (Abilene Christian). With their 6-3 victory, Nicolaou and Ndunda advance to face Momoka Horiguchi and Nanaka Takeuchi of UT Arlington in the consolation finals.

The Cougars completed their sweep of Saturday’s doubles matches with a victory for Belovukovic and Tairyan in the Flight 3 consolation round. Belovukovic and Tairyan rolled to a 6-2 win over Carolina Bulatovic and Myu Kageyami, 6-2, and will face Katherine Jakeway and Emma Pieroni (SMU) on Sunday.

Belovukovic punched her ticket to the flight finals in singles play with a victory in the semifinals of Flight 5. Belovukovic rolled to a 6-3 victory in the first set, before dropping just one game in the second, clinching with a 6-1 score.

Belovukovic will face Fuka Nonoyama (Central Arkansas) in Sunday’s final.

Tairyan also punched her ticket to the flight finals with a straight-set victory over Slvia Viljoen (Abilene Christian) in Flight 8. Tairyan swept Viljoen 6-0 in the first set, before outlasting her 6-4 in the second set to seal the match.

Tairyan moves on to face Kageyama in the finals Sunday.

Houston’s third win of the day came from Sophie Gerits in the consolation round of Flight 3 singles. Matched up against Liza Buss (SMU), Gerits won each set 6-4, 6-4 to clinch the match.

Gerits will face Damira Muminovic (Georgia State) in the Consolation finals on Sunday.

Ndunda also won her singles match on Saturday to advance to the consolation finals of Flight 4. Ndunda dropped the first set 6-2 to Carolina Bulatovic (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi), however the sophomore rebounded to win the second set 6-2 and kept the momentum going with a 6-4 win to clinch the match.

Ndunda will face Tiffany Hollebeck (SMU) in the consolation final on Sunday.

Also in singles play on Sunday, Chitdara and Nicolaou each dropped their singles matches in the consolation round of Flight 2. Chitdara fell to Sarai Monarrez Yesaki (SMU) 6-1, 6-2, while Nicolaou lost to Tatiana Nikolaeva (Austin Peay) 6-1, 6-2. Nicolaou and Chitdara were scheduled to play each other on Sunday, however in order to avoid teammates playing each other Nicolaou will now face Fabienne Schmidt (Austin Peay), while Chitdara will meet Camille Townsend (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi).

The Houston Cougar Women’s Tennis team wrapped the second weekend of fall play with four victories on the final day of the SMU Invitational on Sunday in Dallas.

Sunday’s action began with doubles play, where Stephanie Belovukovic and Elena Tairyan picked up their second-straight win with a victory over Katherine Jakeway and Emma Pieroni (SMU). The two teams played the contest close throughout, but with the score tied at five, the Cougars reeled off back-to-back games to claim the consolation final by a score of 7-5.

Houston’s team of Phonexay Chitdara and Sophie Gerits advanced to the Flight 1 finals with a win on Saturday, but the duo would fall in the flight finals on Sunday. Matched up against Janina Braun and Sara Lizarturry of Mississippi State, the duo dropped their match 6-2, however they finished the weekend 2-1.

Constandena Nicolaou and Ndindi Ndunda competed in Houston’s final doubles match of the day. After winning their first match as a duo on Saturday, the team dropped their contest against Momoka Horiguchi and Nanak Takeuchi (UT Arlington) 7-5, on Sunday.

In singles play on Sunday, Tairyan competed in her first flight finals after winning her first two matches in Flight 8. Tairyan and Myu Kageyama (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi) battled throughout one of the best matches of the weekend, which saw the match head to a super-tiebreaker after Tairyan dropped the first set 6-1 but fought back to win the second 6-2. The tiebreaker played just as close as the rest of the match, however Tairyan ultimately fell 11-9.

Belovukovic also made the flight finals after picking up a pair of victories in Flight 5 over the weekend. The true freshman was matched against Fuka Nonoyama (Central Arkansas) on Sunday, however she fell in straight sets 6-3, 6-0.

Houston won three singles matches on Sunday, including two from Gerits and Ndunda who were competing in their respective flight consolation finals.

Gerits claimed her second-straight win in Flight 3 with a victory over Damira Muminovic of Georgia State. Gerits and Muminovic played close in the first set, with the Cougar edging out Muminovic 7-5 before returning for a 6-4 win in the second set to seal the match.

Ndunda sealed back-to-back wins with a victory over Tiffany Hollebeck of SMU. Ndunda used a big break in the first set to win 6-4 before rolling to a 6-0 decision in the second set to clinch the match.

Chitdara picked up her first win of the weekend with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Camille Townsend of Texas A&M Corpus Christi.

Nicolaou dropped her singles match on Sunday 6-2, 6-1 to Fabienne Schmidt of Austin Peay.