Women falter against Louisville

By Prem Ramkumar     3/19/09 7:00pm

Last Saturday, the 73rd-ranked women's tennis team fell 9-7 to the unranked University of Louisville on the road at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center in Louisville, Ky. Tough times have befallen Rice, as the team will most likely lose its ranking and fall far short of its goal of reaching top 40 in the national rankings as a result of its current three-match losing streak. The Owls dropped their three doubles matches, including an 8-1 loss by junior Julie Chao and freshman Ana Guzman, a close 9-8 (7-4) loss by sophomore Jessica Jackson and junior Rebecca Lin and an 8-6 loss by sophomore Rebekka H?nle and freshman Alex Rasch. On a season that has seemed to always hinge on who wins the doubles point, this match was no different. Doubles has long been the team's focal point in practice, but the practice has been to little avail. The lack of aggressiveness, desire to be on the court and overall energy concern Head Coach Elizabeth Schmidt.

In singles, Rice split the matches with wins by Chao, H?nle and Lin. A strong straight-set win at the first singles spot set the tone for the singles matches, showing that the Owls were unwilling to simply roll over. This victory set the table for another clutch win by the inexperienced H?nle 7-5, 5-7, 1-0 (10-6) as she showed poise under distress. Lin showed her upperclassman's experience by pulling down a victory at the fifth spot with a 6-2, 6-2 win, just when the team needed it.

But to take the match, Louisville only had to split the singles matches. With Guzman's 6-1, 6-4 loss at No. 2 to Bianca Gorbea and Jackson's straight-set loss to Lauren Imre, the pressure fell upon the Owls' youngest player, Rasch, once again. Rasch fought hard after a 6-3 floss in the first set to take the second set to a tiebreak, but she could only scrape together two points in the loss.

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Senior Emily Braid said she believes the problem is psychological for the young players.

"The upperclassmen feel that right now it's a mental issue," Braid said. "We are worried about the team. We feel that the problem is that we don't have the experience to win; we essentially have four freshmen out there. But the thing about tennis is that it's never too late. We can always snap back. It just takes one good match."

The Owls return home on Saturday at 3 p.m. for a match against 72nd-ranked University of South Alabama. The Jaguars have their fair share of momentum after a strong 6-1 win over Indiana State University, losing only one match at in singles. What may pose a challenge for the Owls is South Alabama's strong doubles play, which it dislpayed in dispatching Indiana State 8-1 and 8-2 at two positions.

Schmidt said the team just needs to become comfortable under pressure to earn the tough wins.

"Right now I feel that we don't want to be in those third-set tiebreaker situations," Schmidt said. "We have to welcome the pressure and want to win. We have not been able to adjust to the indoors. South Alabama is going to be another battle, and we are just all happy to get back home and we expect another dogfight.

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