Women's Tennis heads to ITA Indoor Kickoff Weekend

By Nicolette Chamberlain     1/23/13 6:00pm

Last Friday marked the beginning of the 2013 Rice women's tennis season, and the team kicked off its season with a bang. After a decisive 6-1 victory over Lamar University at home on Jan. 18 and a decisive 7-0 sweep against University of Texas, Pan American, on Jan. 21, the Owls have stood strong behind their No. 29 ranking. However, the team now shifts its focus to the Jan. 26 match against Texas Tech University, which is currently ranked 21st.

While Lamar and Texas Pan Am were strong victories for the Owls, the team did not win without a fight. Sophomore Liat Zimmerman came back from a 5-7 loss in her first set against Lamar to win 5-7, 6-2, 10-5, and senior captain Katie Gater also won in a tiebreaker after a 2-6 loss in the first set. Still, junior Dominique Harmath only gave up three games in her victory over Lamar.

After a day of practice, the team was able to defeat Texas Pan Am without reaching a third set. While Head Coach Elizabeth Schmidt was pleased with the sweep, she said she has been stressing doubles practice in order to

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prepare for the Texas Tech matchup. "We improved from Friday's match to Sunday's match, but there are still some

things that we can do better, so [we] will continue to work on that," Schmidt said.

The women's tennis team will head to Waco, Texas, this weekend for its match on Saturday at 2 p.m. The Texas Tech match will open the first round of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Indoor Kickoff Weekend, which showcases the top 64 teams in the nation. If the Owls win their regional, they will travel to Virginia to compete in the top 16.

The team will take the momentum from its 2-0 record into the indoor tournament and through to the rest of the season. The following weekend of Feb. 2 and 3 will require a strong appearance from the Owls, when Rice will face both No. 44 Oklahoma University and No. 25 Conference USA rival University of Tulsa. Schmidt knows the beginning to the 2013 season will be tough one, but the Lamar and Texas Pan Am victories have set Rice in the right direction.

"Overall, I was pleased with our team's performance this past weekend," Schmidt said. "The first matches of the season can always be tricky, and I thought our team did a nice job staying focused and playing with confidence in tight situations."

Rice hopes to take the same focus and confidence to its third match of the season tomorrow.

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