"We'll take a win any way we can," UH head coach John Severance said. "It wasn't a pretty match, but that is what happens when you play not to lose instead of playing to win.
"This demonstrates that we have to play solid at every spot in the lineup if we want to win against any type of opponent. Today we did just enough to get a win."
Houston started the match by taking the doubles point to stake the squad to a 1-0 lead. Leila Salek and Lynley Wasson breezed to an 8-0 triumph over Stasa Vujosevic and Roxana Martinez at No. 2 doubles, while Jordan McCombs teamed with Vicky Simpson to squeak out an 8-6 win over Patricia Manzur and Nora Kuruc at No. 3. UH's No. 1 doubles tandem of Lucy Forward and Izabella Glinska dropped an 8-2 match to Irina Sotnikova and Peta Taylor.
The Cougars captured the match by taking singles at Nos. 2, 4 and 6. Salek made quick work of Kuruc at No. 2, 6-3, 6-1, as Salek improved to 11-3 on the year and 9-2 at No. 2. Then, Wasson and Simpson won in straight sets as well, with Wasson taking a 6-0, 6-1 win over Vujosevic, while Simpson smashed her way past Martinez 6-2, 6-3.
Even though defeated at this point, the Bearkats took the matches at both Nos. 1 and 3 to slice the lead to 4-3. Sotnikova took out Forward, 7-6 (6-2), 7-5 in a very close match at the top of the flight, and Taylor knocked off Glinska, 6-1, 6-1 at No. 3.
The Cougars return to action this weekend, traveling to Alabama on March 15, and then squaring off in a first-ever meeting against Samford in Birmingham on March 16. The Cougars are 3-8 lifetime against the Crimson Tide.
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