NEW ORLEANS - Ceara Howey came through in the clutch with a come from behind three-set victory to allow the University of New Orleans women to join their male counterparts in defeating crosstown rival Xavier on Saturday afternoon at the University Tennis Center.
With the dual knotted at three, Howey rallied from set down to defeat Colleen McArthur 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 at the No. 4 court for a 4-3 win by the UNO women (6-12) over XULA (12-13).
Howey, who was playing a spot up at No. 4 for the Privateers in absence of Kozue Matsumoto, entered the match with a 1-7 record when playing at the No. 3 or No. 4 position, compared to a 5-0 record at No. 5. The victory by Howey concluded a sweep on the day as the UNO men (5-14) had previously completed a 7-0 victory over the NAIA's No. 16 ranked squad from XULA (10-13).
In addition to Howey's win at No. 4, Amber Garza and Sofija Karalic also posted victories for the Privateers. Garza was a 6-2, 6-4 winner at No. 3 over Carmen Nelson with Karalic posting a 6-3, 6-1 win against Melissa DeLoach at No. 5.
Prior to singles' play, the UNO women had swept the three doubles' matches. Cassandra Escobar and Kozue Matsumoto defeated the No. 9 NAIA ranked duo of Angelina Callis and Anastesia Opata 8-4. Howey and Garza teamed for an 8-6 win over McArthur and DeLoach with Kristina Martic and Karalic posting an 8-0 win at No. 3 over Nelson and Ashley McGill.
On the men's side, UNO took advantage of the Gold Rush playing a man down, by winning both contested doubles' matches to wrap up the doubles' point. The win in the doubles' point was the first for UNO since a Mar. 13 win over Prairie View A&M, snapping a string of seven straight doubles' point defeats.
In singles' action, the Privateers were straight set winners in 4 of 5 completed matches.
The toughest task for UNO was a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 win by Benjamin Bouhana at No. 1 over Steffen Giles-Osborn that gave the native of France his first win at No. 1 after eight straight losses. Other winners for the Privateers included Stepan Siska, Ben Smith, Abdelrahman Zaki and Guilherme Rebolo.
Rebolo, playing the last regular season match of his UNO career, defeated Sean Richardson 6-4, 6-2 at No. 5. Rebolo had previously won by walkover with teammate Rohit Chivukula at the No. 3 doubles' court due to a lack of a XULA sixth player.
Both UNO teams await their seeding for the Sun Belt Conference Tennis Championships, which will get underway Thursday morning at the UTC. A full bracket will be made available on UNOPrivateers.com.
University of New Orleans women 4, Xavier (La.) 3
Apr 17, 2010 at New Orleans, La. (University Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1. Anastesia Opata (XULA) def. Cassandra Escobar (UNOW) 2-6, 6-2, 6-1
2. Angelina Callis (XULA) def. Kristina Martic (UNOW) 6-0, 6-2
3. Amber Garza (UNOW) def. Carmen Nelson (XULA) 6-2, 6-4
4. Ceara Howey (UNOW) def. Colleen McArthur (XULA) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
5. Sofija Karalic (UNOW) def. Melissa DeLoach (XULA) 6-3, 6-1
6. Ashley McGill (XULA) def. No player (UNOW), by walkover
Doubles competition
1. Kozue Matsumoto/Cassandra Escobar (UNOW) def. Angelina Callis/Anastesia Opata (XULA) 8-4
2. Ceara Howey/Amber Garza (UNOW) def. Colleen McArthur/Melissa DeLoach (XULA) 8-6
3. Kristina Martic/Sofija Karalic (UNOW) def. Ashley McGill/Carmen Nelson (XULA) 8-0
University of New Orleans men 7, Xavier (La.) 0
Apr 17, 2010 at New Orleans, La. (University Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1. Benjamin Bouhana (UNO) def. Steffen Giles-Osborn (XULA) 6-4, 4-6, 6-2
2. Stepan Siska (UNO) def. Hassan Abbas (XULA) 6-3, 6-2
3. Ben Smith (UNO) def. Mario Myles (XULA) 6-1, 6-3
4. Abdelrahman Zaki (UNO) def. Mikhail Vaval (XULA) 5-4, 7-5
5. Guilherme Rebolo (UNO) def. Sean Richardson (XULA) 6-4, 6-2
6. Rohit Chivukula (UNO) def. No player (XULA), by walkover
Doubles competition
1. Stepan Siska/Ben Smith (UNO) def. Mikhail Vaval/Steffen Giles-Osborn (XULA) 8-1
2. Hassan Abbas/Mario Myles (XULA) def. Benjamin Bouhana/Rohit Chivukula (UNO) 8-2
3. Abdelrahman Zaki/Guilherme Rebolo (UNO) def. No player/No player (XULA), by walkover
