2008 Woodie Awards
Women's tennis keeps win streak rolling with victory over UCF
Rhodes Coffey
Issue date: 3/14/08 Section: Sports
Winning streaks are a funny thing. They are both media darlings and fan favorites, but they can find lessened importance if the teams that own them play sloppily and without fire. However, after its sweep of spring break opponents to stretch the winning streak to six matches, no one can accuse the women's tennis team of playing without desire. Over the past two weeks, No. 75 Rice has downed No. 69 California State University-Northridge, the University of Texas-Pan American and the University of Central Florida, its first Conference-USA foe of the year.
After improving its record to 12-4 on the spring season and 9-1 at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium, the team will host Abilene Christian University this Friday at 3 pm. While Abilene Christian - Rice head coach Roger White's alma mater - may be Division II, they are seventh in the country and have lost only one of the last ten matches. They also feature the doubles tandem of Irene Squillaci and Aina Rafolomanantsiatosika, the second-ranked team in D-II.
If the Owls beat the Wildcats, they will have won nine of their last ten matches as well. One of those wins came March 2 against Rice's fifth ranked opponent of the year. Facing Cal State-Northridge in windy California conditions, the Owls gave the Matadors no mercy in their 5-2 victory. The win was in front of a relatively bipartisan crowd, however, as half of Rice's team hails from southern California.
Continuing their dominant play, junior Emily Braid and freshman Varsha Shiva-Shankar catapulted themselves out of a 3-0 deficit to win eight straight games against their challengers at No. 3 doubles. Taking their cue immediately afterwards were sophomore Julie Chao and junior Dominique Karas, who clinched the point for Rice with a 8-5 victory over Victoria Brymer and Canna Furuta.
In singles, Chao charged away with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Brymer. Next to finish was the No. 5 slot, with Cal State Northridge's Brooke Doane defeating Braid 6-2, 7-5. Soon after, though, senior Tiffany Lee shifted the momentum back to the Owls by picking up a straight-set win, while sophomore Rebecca Lin clinched the overall victory by dismantling Kristy Fournell 6-3, 7-6 (3) at No. 4. Meanwhile, Karas completed two consecutive tiebreakers and recorded a 7-6 (9), 7-6 (2) victory.
After improving its record to 12-4 on the spring season and 9-1 at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium, the team will host Abilene Christian University this Friday at 3 pm. While Abilene Christian - Rice head coach Roger White's alma mater - may be Division II, they are seventh in the country and have lost only one of the last ten matches. They also feature the doubles tandem of Irene Squillaci and Aina Rafolomanantsiatosika, the second-ranked team in D-II.
If the Owls beat the Wildcats, they will have won nine of their last ten matches as well. One of those wins came March 2 against Rice's fifth ranked opponent of the year. Facing Cal State-Northridge in windy California conditions, the Owls gave the Matadors no mercy in their 5-2 victory. The win was in front of a relatively bipartisan crowd, however, as half of Rice's team hails from southern California.
Continuing their dominant play, junior Emily Braid and freshman Varsha Shiva-Shankar catapulted themselves out of a 3-0 deficit to win eight straight games against their challengers at No. 3 doubles. Taking their cue immediately afterwards were sophomore Julie Chao and junior Dominique Karas, who clinched the point for Rice with a 8-5 victory over Victoria Brymer and Canna Furuta.
In singles, Chao charged away with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Brymer. Next to finish was the No. 5 slot, with Cal State Northridge's Brooke Doane defeating Braid 6-2, 7-5. Soon after, though, senior Tiffany Lee shifted the momentum back to the Owls by picking up a straight-set win, while sophomore Rebecca Lin clinched the overall victory by dismantling Kristy Fournell 6-3, 7-6 (3) at No. 4. Meanwhile, Karas completed two consecutive tiebreakers and recorded a 7-6 (9), 7-6 (2) victory.
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