Women fall to ranked squads
The past two weeks have been extremely busy for the 42nd-ranked women's tennis team. Playing four matches against tough opponents and going 2-2, the team is entering the final stretch before conference championships, and wear-and-tear is beginning to show. In the team's last four matches, they faced Ohio State University, University of South Florida, Virginia Commonwealth University and Louisiana Lafayette University. For their first of the four matches, the team faced No. 30 Ohio State (14- 4) on March 27. After playing a close match with them last year and losing, Rice hoped they could change the result this time around. Unfortunately, history was doomed to repeat itself, and the women lost 4-3.
Rice got off to a good start by winning the doubles point. Although the No. 41 team of senior Julie Chao and sophomore Ana Guzman lost at the number one doubles position, Rice dug out a close win in the second doubles match and an easy win at the third.
Rice's doubles point victory did not faze Ohio State. The Buckeyes were on top of their game in the singles matches, winning all but two. The opponents were evenly matched and every match was hotly contested. However, key points went Ohio State's way, allowing the Buckeyes to take the singles points and the match.
A few days later, Rice faced No. 17 USF (10-5). Despite tough play throughout the match by the Owls, USF managed a win with a close score of 4-3.
Once again, the doubles point went Rice's way. The 68th-ranked doubles team of Chao and Guzman faced one of their toughest opponents of the year in the No. 16 doubles team of Irene Rehberger and Melissa Koning. Chao and Guzman pulled out the win 9-8 (7-4). The other doubles win came from the team of junior Rebekka H?nle and senior Rebecca Lin, easily defeating their opponents at the number-three position 8-2.
However, the Owls' opponents proved their team's No. 17 ranking with impressive play in singles matches. USF won the matches at the number six, three and two positions. Rice came back with a win from Lin at the number five position in a tough three setter 6-2, 1-6, 6-2, and a win from No. 104 H?nle. Guzman, who played the final match against Ohio State, came back again, this time against Ecaterina Vasenina of USF. With a lot of pressure on Guzman, Vasenina was able to squeak by and take the third set and win the match for USF, giving Rice its second defeat in a row.
The match versus USF was the Owls' second five-hour match of the season. The next morning, the team played No. 24 VCU (16-4) in another match that went Rice's way, as the Owls picked up a 4-3 win.
This time, however, Rice entered singles competition having already lost the doubles point. The Owls then proceeded to drop the fourth and fifth singles matches. Down 0-3, Rice finally got the match to go its way. Even though the team had played a five-hour match the day before, the Owls showed no fatigue in the final four matches of the day.
The magic began when freshman Daniella Trigo won her match 6-3, 6-4 at the number six position. H?nle then defeated her opponent in straight sets as well: 7-6, 6-2.
The next two points came down to the numbers two and three positions where Jackson and Chao were locked in extremely tough battles. Both had won their first sets but dropped their second sets, leaving the whole match resting on the outcome of the third and final sets of each match.
Chao wasted no time in the third and played brilliantly to take the third set 6-0, bringing the match to an even 3-3. The final match saw Jackson fighting hard in the third and returning after a break to take the match 6-4, giving Rice an impressive win over a top-30 team.
Head Coach Elizabeth Schmidt was proud of the fight her team showed.
"I haven't been coaching too long, but that was one of the best comebacks I've seen in college sports," Schmidt said.
In their final match of the four, Rice played Louisiana-Lafayette. Still rolling from the win over VCU, the Owls won the match decisively, 6-1.
The Owls won two of the three doubles matches to set the tone for the match. In singles matches, the Owls dropped only one close three-set match, but won the rest, to round out a very solid performance.
Next week, the Owls will play No. 29 Southern Methodist University (21-3) and No. 74 University of North Texas (11-5).
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