October 9, 1998

HOUSTON, Texas - Members of the Texas Tech women's tennis team competed in the opening round of the Cougar Classic sponsored by the University of Houston on Friday. Alenka Ovin (Maribor, Slovenia), Amanda Earhart (Nashville, Tenn.) and Ghislaine Hernandez (Mexico) all competed in the tournament as part of the fall season of play.

Ovin and Earhart lead the way for Texas Tech both advancing to the second round of Flight A. Ovin defeated Luciane Kelbert of the University of Houston 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4. However, she dropped her second match to Patricia Ubeda-Diaz of SMU by the score of 6-2, 6-3. Earhart started off with a three set win over Marta Zivanov of Northwestern State, but later fell to Sarah Borwell of Houston in the second round 6-2, 6-1.

The freshman Hernandez dropped both of her matches on the day in Flight C play. She lost to Meredith Farrell of SMU 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 and then Laura McCarty of Texas-San Antonio 6-3, 6-2. The matches were the first of Hernandez's collegiate career.

All three women will continue play on Saturday morning in the consolation rounds.