Box Score HOUSTON – Northwestern State set the tone in doubles Monday by sweeping Houston on all three courts, but in singles play, the host Cougars were in the driver's seat.

Houston swept all six singles courts to hand NSU a 6-1 loss on Monday.

"We won a great point with great play, and we were dictating and setting the tone," said NSU coach Jonas Brobeck. "We were playing aggressive and simple, and we were doing the things we had been working on.

"Up and down the doubles lineup, there was really good stuff to see."

NSU (5-4) owned doubles play as Mariella Minetti/Tjasa Klevisar pressured Azul Pedemonti/ Maria Dzembeshkevich in a 6-2 win.

The No. 2 duo Viktorie Wojcikova/ Rozalie Dohnalova took care of Laura Slisane/ Blanca Cortijo Parreno, 6-3.

NSU completed the doubles sweep with Patrycja Polanska/ Ayu Ishibashi handling Elena Trencheva/ Gabriella Giraldo, 6-4.

The Lady Demons were competitive in spots in singles play against Houston (5-4).

Minetti challenged Pedemonti in an eventual 6-4, 7-5 defeat. The loss is just Minetti's second in the last six matches.

Polanska pushed Trencheva in the No. 6 slot in a 6-4, 6-4 loss.

Houston's Giraldo logged the biggest win in a 6-2, 6-0 decision over Wojcikova in the No. 5 hole.

The other three singles scores were each 6-3, 6-2 as Dohnalova (No. 1), Klevisar (No. 2) and Ishibashi (No. 4) each fell to their Cougar counterpart.

"I thought we did a fairly good job of taking momentum and confidence into singles play because we had good starts," Brobeck said. "I think we allowed on some courts for Houston to take over.

"We were a little up and down today in that we needed to continue with our process even though the result didn't go our way. Meaning that we were playing the correct way, but when Houston was winning those points, we started to back up or started to over play. We have to focus on limiting our stress when we lose a point even though we played it correctly, and that will happen against good teams like Houston."

The Lady Demons have one more nonconference weekend before Southland Conference play begins as NSU heads to Lamar on Friday and hosts Alcorn State on Sunday.
 
Houston 6, NSU 1
Singles
Maria Dzembeshkevich (UH) def. Rozalie Dohnalova 6-3, 6-2
Laura Slisane (UH) def. Tjasa Klevisar 6-3, 6-2
Azul Pedemonti (UH) def. Mariella Minetti 6-4, 7-5
Blanca Cortijo Parreno (UH) def. Ayu Ishibashi 6-3, 6-2
Gabriella Giraldo (UH) def. Viktorie Wojcikova 6-2, 6-0
Elena Trencheva (UH) def. Patrycja Polanska, 6-4, 6-4
 
Doubles
Minetti/Klevisar (NSU) def. Pedemonti/Dzembeshkevich 6-2
Wojcikova/Dohnalova (NSU) def. Slisane/Cortijo 6-3
Polanska/Ishibashi (NSU) def. Trencheva/Giraldo 6-4