Texas claimed the doubles title at the Texas Invitational at the Penick-Allison Tennis Center. The duo of sophomore Cierra Gaytan-Leach and freshman Noel Scott took down San Diego’s team of Laura Claus and Juliette Coupez.

“I’m really excited to see these two ladies win this event,” said Texas head coach Patty Fendick-McCain. “Cierra and Noel had a nice showing last weekend at Duke and picked up a win over a nationally ranked team.”

Texas took the doubles title with an 8-5 win.

“They came together again this weekend, and it was great to see them get the title,” Fendick-McCain said.

In the singles final, Texas’ Gaytan-Leach took the first set against San Diego’s Coupez 6-4. Coupez would fight back to win the next set, 6-2, and would follow that with a 6-3 win in the third set to take the singles title.

“Cierra had a breakout weekend, defeating a nationally ranked opponent [Texas Tech’s Liz Ullathorne],” Fendick-McCain said. “Her opponent hit some unbelievable shots to beat her today, but it was nice to see Cierra be so tough and play through the match.”

Texas took one of the two singles consolation matches on Sunday with Scott defeating Texas Tech’s Kenna Kilgo in three sets, 2-6, 6-1, 6-3. In the second consolation match, Texas freshman Alex Martin took the first set but was unable to finish off the match, falling 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Texas reached the Big 12 Championship finals last season, as well as the round of 32 in the NCAA Championships. It returns four regular singles starters from that team and will be looking to take the next step toward winning a championship this season. With solid performances this week and last week at the Duke invitational, Texas will carry some momentum into its next match. The Longhorns will resume play this Saturday at the pre-qualifying rounds of the ITA All-American Championships, which presents them with a good opportunity to make some noise on
the national stage.

Printed on Monday September 26, 2011 as: Doubles duo wins title, singles lose in tourney finals