April 18, 2008

Box Score

HOUSTON - In Friday's quarterfinal match of the 2008 Conference USA Women's Tennis Championship at the John E. Hoff Courts on the campus of the University of Houston, fourth-seeded SMU downed No. 5 Southern Miss, 4-2. The Mustangs rallied to win the doubles point at spots one and two and also used the top of its singles lineup to advance to Saturday's semifinals.

Southern Miss took a slight early advantage when it won the first doubles point at No. 3. Ali Blackett and Shannon Rogers downed Sarah Acosta and Lindsey Norman, 8-0. SMU would not give in, however, and battled to claim identical 8-5 wins at the top spots for the early lead.

Nicole Briceno and Kristen Reid evened the points at one with their win over Sherry Price and Lauren Gutterman at No. 2. The nationally-ranked duo of Natalia Bubien and Pavi Francis clinched the 1-0 lead for SMU moments later when they downed Brittany Serret and Stephanie Dellocono at the No. 1 line.

In singles, the Golden Eagles' Zoe Lee was off first at No. 5 after a convincing 6-0, 6-0, win against Norman. Gutterman then dispatched of Acosta, 6-2, 6-1, at No. 6 to give the Golden Eagles the 2-1 advantage.

Down a point, the Mustangs would not go quietly and closed out the match with three straight-set wins that came from the top of its singles lineup.

Briceno downed Serret at No. 3 6-3, 6-1, while Francis took out Blackett, 6-0, 6-3, at the No. 2 spot.

Junior captain Natalia Bubien, who is ranked No. 105 in the latest ITA rankings, clinched the victory for SMU when she downed Price 6-2, 6-4 at the top singles position.

SMU advances to the quarterfinals for the second time in three years as a member of C-USA. The Mustangs battled for the championship in 2006 and lost in the quarterfinals in 2007.

The Mustangs improved to 11-9 with the victory and will face top-seeded Tulsa at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday. Southern Miss concluded its season at 8-6 with the loss.