Men's and women's tennis win one, lose one over weekend

By Chris Pettijohn     4/15/10 7:00pm

For the last time before conference championships, the women's tennis team packed their bags, traveled long hours in a cramped white van and missed out on their friends' shenanigans back at Rice, to head out onto the road for their last away matches of the regular season at Southern Methodist University and the University of North Texas. First, the No. 42 Owls (12-8) took on a tough No. 29 SMU (22-3) squad on a four-game winning streak.

During the doubles point, the Owls faced stiff competition at each position. Senior Julie Chao and sophomore Ana Guzman came up short at the No. 1 position, losing 8-5. Junior Jessica Jackson and freshman Daniella Trigo were unable to convert at the No. 2 position, losing 8-4, and senior Rebecca Lin and junior Rebekka H?nle lost a close match 8-6 at the No. 3 position.

Unfortunately, the team's luck failed to turn around as they headed into singles matches. While No. 104 H?nle at the No. 1 position and Lin at the No. 5 position pushed their opponents to third-set tie breaks, they were both decided by an 11-9 third-set score that went the way of the Mustangs. The Owls simply did not play their best and the Mustangs took full advantage of this. The team's lone point came from Trigo's performance at the No. 6 position, as Trigo defeated SMU's Sophie Quist in a hotly contested three-set match 6-2, 5-7, 10-5.

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Lin felt that the team should have played SMU more aggressively.

"We gave them too much credit," Lin said.

SMU is the defending conference champion and will undoubtedly be a team Rice will have to face if it advances far enough in the conference championships. This match allowed the team to see what they may be facing in a little more than a week, when the stakes are much higher.

While the weekend's matches may have gotten off to a poor start, the Owls picked themselves up and came out to play even better in their next match against No. 74 North Texas (12-6).

Head Coach Elizabeth Schmidt felt her team rebounded well.

"I was extremely proud of the way the team bounced back after a tough loss on Saturday," Schmidt said.

Rice lost to North Texas 5-2 last year. Because their lineup this year added only one new member, Rice's 6-1 dismantling of the Mean Green shows how much the Owls have improved.

The Owls came out strong in the doubles matches, winning at the No. 1 and 3 positions with a quick 8-1 score, which gave Rice the doubles point.

With North Texas on their heels, the Owls continued to overpower the Mean Green during singles matches. The Owls raced to three quick points as H?nle at the No. 1, Guzman at No. 4 and Chao at No. 3 easily won their matches in straight sets and collectively only lost 11 points.

Rice had already won the match, securing four points. At No. 2, Jackson finished her match with a third-set tie-breaker that she took 10-8, and Lin at No. 5 followed suit with a long straight-sets match. Junior Alex Rasch, who played at the No. 6 position subbing in for an ill Trigo, lost a heartbreaking match that was decided 13-11 in a third-set tie-breaker.

Next week, the Owls will play their last match in the regular season against the University of Alabama- Birmingham, a conference rival. This game could affect where Rice is seeded for conference championships, but that outcome also depends on what other top teams do in their last weekend of play.

Saturday's match will also be senior day, honoring Chao and Lin.

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