March 23, 2007

CHARLESTON, S.C. - The University of Houston overcame a doubles point loss and rebounded to capture four of six singles matches to post a 4-3 Conference USA neutral-site victory over East Carolina Friday morning.

The conference-opening loss snapped a three-match winning streak for the Lady Pirates and dropped their overall record to 14-7 while the Cougars improved to 12-5 overall and 2-2 in C-USA play.

East Carolina earned the opening tally when tandems Mireia Gol/Varinia Soler and Alex Smith/Brooke Walter posted a pair of 8-6 triumphs over Loli Gomez/Sonja Nikolic and Rebecca Franzi/Vicky Simpson, respectively. However, Houston bounced back in singles play to book victories at the No. 1, 2, 5 and 6 slots to secure the win.

Gol, a 6-0, 6-1 winner over Nikolic at the No. 3 position, and Walter, who cruised past Neila Starrat 6-4, 6-2 at No. 4, registered the Lady Pirates' pair of triumphs. The Cougars used wins by Leila Salek over Dumitru (6-3, 6-0), Gomez over Soler (6-2, 3-6, 6-1), Simpson over Borges (6-3, 6-3) and Anna Djananova over Hannah Priest (6-2, 6-1) to capture the other four matches.

The Lady Pirates will wrap-up their brief two-match road trip in South Carolina when they face Charleston Southern Saturday beginning at 10:00 a.m.

HOUSTON 4, EAST CAROLINA 3
Singles Play
No. 1 - Leila Salek (UH) def. Anca Dumitru (ECU); 6-3, 6-0
No. 2 - Loli Gomez (UH) def. Varinia Soler (ECU); 6-2, 3-6, 6-1
No. 3 - Mireia Gol (ECU) def. Sonja Nikolic (UH); 6-0, 6-1
No. 4 - Brooke Walter (ECU) def. Neila Starratt (UH); 6-4, 6-2
No. 5 - Vicky Simpson (UH) def. Luiza Borges (ECU); 6-3, 6-3
No. 6 - Anna Djananova (UH) def. Hannah Priest (ECU); 6-2, 6-1
Doubles Play
No. 1 - Gol/Soler (ECU) def. Gomez/Nikolic (UH); 8-6
No. 2 - Djananova/Salek (UH) def. Borges/Dumitru (ECU); 8-6
No. 3 - Alex Smith/Walter (ECU) def. Rebecca Franzi/Simpson (UH); 8-6
Team Records: Houston 12-5, 2-2; East Carolina 14-7, 0-1