Semifinal finish pushes women to winning record
In a season that was consistently middling, it makes sense that the women's tennis team was bounced from the Conference USA Tournament in the middle of competition. Despite home court advantage, the fifth-seeded Owls finished their season with a 13-12 record after being bounced in the semifinals to Southern Methodist University after impressive wins against the University of Southern Mississippi and fourth-seeded University of Houston. On April 16, junior Rebekka H?nle, senior Rebecca Lin and sophomore Alex Rasch steered the Owls to a 4-0 sweep with wins in singles against the Golden Eagles in the tournament's opening round. H?nle won her eighth straight match 6-1, 6-0. Lin closed out her match 6-3, 6-1 while Rasch finished third with a 6-4, 6-1 win - much to the disappointment of junior Jessica Jackson, who was racing Rasch for the clinching point after going up 6-1, 4-1.
The women dominated doubles play as well with Lin and Jackson taking the first set 8-2 and H?nle and Rasch clinching the point with an 8-6 decision.
With the win over Southern Miss, the Owls took on Houston the next day. With a 6-1, 6-1 win from senior Julie Chao, a 6-0, 6-0 win from H?nle and a 6-2, 6-1 win from Rasch, the Owls took three points in addition to the doubles point.
This second sweep gave Rice its seventh consecutive berth in the conference semifinals, pitting them against the first seed, No. 25 SMU. The women faced off against the Mustangs in their penultimate match of the regular season, which resulted in a 5-2 loss.
On Saturday, April 18, the semifinal match was moved indoors to the Galleria Athletic & Tennis Club due to persistent thunderstorms. SMU's nationally-ranked first and second doubles teams blew Guzman/Chao and Lin/Jackson off the court with 8-4 and 8-3 wins, respectively. Already down 1-0, Chao lost 6-2, 6-3 and freshman Ana Guzman lost 6-3, 6-4, putting all the pressure on Lin.
The junior fought back heroically to take the second set after being down 6-1, 5-1. Though she lost the third set 6-2, she allowed H?nle and Jackson to hit the court and keep the Owls alive for a bit longer.
The many close losses this year were not due to technical issues, lack of talent or failing to take responsibility, but rather due to the team's overall youth at both the coaching and player level. Head Coach Elizabeth Schmidt is a first-time and first-year head coach, after being a star player at the University of California-Los Angeles and being the assistant head coach at Rice and Notre Dame.
"Schmidt has been amazing this year," Jackson said. "You couldn't ask for a more dedicated and hard-working coach. She always pushes us and brings the best out of us. There aren't enough good things to say about Elizabeth."
The season can be considered a success since the team ended with a winning record while still underachieving with the talent they possess. The coming years will only bring more success at the individual and team level. Individuals Chao, Guzman and H?nle were recognized by C-USA with coach selections to the All- C-USA Women's Tennis Team.
In addition, H?nle, with UCF junior Katie Orletsky, shared the C-USA Newcomer Award, a testament to H?nle's 10-1 record after earning eligibility in late February. Though not formally recognized by Conference USA, sophomore Jessica Jackson should also be considered the breakout performer of the year with her blistering start turning her from a red-shirt freshman into a lynchpin of the team's singles and doubles efforts as only a sophomore.
This season, the Owls failed to reach their goals of reaching a top 40 national ranking and a conference championship, but their team is very young and will be returning seven of its eight current players.
"We learned a lot from this year and hopefully next year we can take with us the experience we gained from all the match play," Schmidt said. "Next year we will see all these teams and hopefully we can improve and turn those losses into wins. Specifically, we need to work on our first strike, being able to control the first ball. We have had to deal with a lot of new players and personnel, including myself, but I am excited for next year.
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