Women's tennis looking for fifth straight conference title as No. 1 seed

Rice women’s tennis rode a 15-5 record this season to the top seed in the Conference-USA Tournament. The Owls will be looking to win an unprecedented fifth consecutive conference championship. The Owls will take on the winner of the University of Texas, San Antonio and the University of Southern Mississippi in the second round of the C-USA tournament.

The Owls are currently on a six-game win streak, with the last two wins coming against conference opponents Marshall University and Louisiana Tech University. The streak is their longest of the season. Rice’s singles record in dual matches was 73-24 and its doubles record in dual matches was 36-16.

The Owls’ primary foe in the tournament will likely be Florida International University. FIU is 19-1 on the season and has won 17 straight matches. It is the second-longest win streak in school history. The Panthers recorded 13 shutouts on the year and had an overall singles record of 78-13. Last season, Rice defeated FIU 4-1 in the final of the C-USA tournament.

Juniors Lindsey Hodge and Wendy Zhang and senior Katherine Ip will likely play the top three singles spots in the tournament for Rice. The tournament will begin April 20th, and Rice will play its first match on April 21st.