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March 14, 2012

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AUSTIN, Texas - Texas senior Krista Damico rallied for a three-set singles victory against No. 18 Danielle Lao of Southern California, but the fourth-ranked Trojans emerged with a 4-3 victory over the No. 8 Longhorns on Wednesday afternoon at Penick-Allison Tennis Center. USC improved to 12-2 on the dual match season, while UT fell to 7-4.

USC swept all three doubles matches to take the doubles point and a 1-0 lead. At No. 2 doubles, UT's Aeriel Ellis and Cierra Gaytan-Leach kept it close, but 49th-ranked Valeria Pulido and Zoe Scandalis pulled off an 8-5 victory. The Longhorns' 23rd-ranked pair of Lina Padegimaite and Noel Scott took a quick 5-2 lead at No. 1 doubles, but the nation's fourth-ranked duo of Kaitlyn Christian and Sabrina Santamaria fought back to win five-straight games and clinch the doubles point for the Trojans.

The Trojans assumed a 2-0 lead after Pulido defeated Elizabeth Begley 6-2, 6-1 at sixth singles. Begley is now 8-2 on the dual match season.

USC extended its lead to 3-0 when the 31st-ranked Santamaria defeated the 122nd-ranked Noel Scott 6-2, 6-2 at the third singles slot. The Trojans clinched the match at the first singles slot with the 21st-ranked Scandalis' 6-4, 6-3 victory over Texas' 24th-ranked Ellis.

UT earned its first point when USC's Christian retired the match to UT's Gaytan-Leach. Gaytan-Leach had dropped the first set 3-6 before winning the second set 6-3 to force a third set at the No. 4 singles slot.

Padegimaite won her No. 5 singles match against Gabriella DeSimone in a hard-fought three-setter, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 to give the Longhorns a second point on the board.

Damico then closed out the day with another scrappy victory for the Longhorns. After dropping the first set at love, Damico rallied to take the final two sets over USC's Lao, 6-3, 6-4, which gave UT its third point of the afternoon. Damico remains undefeated against ranked opponents (5-0) and in play at the No. 2 singles slot.

UT opens up Big 12 play this weekend when the Longhorns visit Iowa State on Friday and Missouri on Sunday.

POST-MATCH COMMENTS
Texas head coach Patty Fendick-McCain
On today's match: It was a little disappointing. We didn't play our best tennis on all courts today. USC is a very tough team with a lot of good players. They played really well against us today, and that is a credit to them. I did like how we fought back in the last three matches. It is one of those situations where we could have lost the match and let it snowball into a 7-0 loss. For the girls who were on court to get those wins was great. We are just this close, just short of it. Hopefully next time we will be able to push them and get that win.

On starting Big 12 conference play:We get on a plane tomorrow and go to Iowa State and Missouri. We are looking forward to getting out there and starting conference play.

No. 4 USC 4, No. 8 Texas 3
Doubles - Order of Finish: 2, 1*, 3
1. #4 Kaitlyn Christian/Sabrina Santamaria (USC) #23 Lina Padegimaite/Noel Scott (UT) 8-6
2. #49 Valeria Pulido/Zoe Scandalis (USC)Aeriel Ellis/Cierra Gaytan-Leach (UT) 8-5
3. Danielle Lao/Alison Ramos (USC) def. Krista Damico/Juliana Gajic (UT) 8-2

Singles - Order of Finish: 6, 3, 1*, 4, 5, 2
1. #21 Zoe Scandalis (USC) def. #24 Aeriel Ellis (UT) 6-4, 6-3
2. #75 Krista Damico (UT) def. #18 Danielle Lao (USC) 0-6, 6-3, 6-4
3. . #31 Sabrina Santamaria (USC) def. #122 Noel Scott (UT) 6-2, 6-2
4. Cierra Gaytan-Leach (UT) def. Kaitlyn Christian (USC) 3-6, 6-3, 1-1, (USC retired)
5. Lina Padegimaite (UT) def. Gabriella DeSimone (USC) 6-3, 2-6, 6-2
6. Valeria Pulido (USC) def. Elizabeth Begley (UT) 6-2, 6-1