Women's Tennis: Rice Stumbles at SMU, 6-1
4/9/2005
DALLAS ? The Rice women?s tennis team lost their second-consecutive match, this time a 6-1 decision at Southern Methodist, despite a singles win from Blair DiSesa, Saturday afternoon at the Haggar Tennis Stadium.
DiSesa, the 82nd-ranked player in the country, defeated Svetlana Kouzmenko in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3, for her 13th win of the season. DiSesa leads the Owls with 13 dual match wins at the top singles position. She has now won 65 career matches as an Owl.
Although Rice dropped the doubles point to open the match, the Owls did pick up a win at the number three doubles position. Rice?s tandem of freshmen Dominique Karas and Christine Dao defeated the Mustang duo of Halley and Brooke Rambally, 8-6. It was the pair?s third victory this season.
?This was a disappointing day for us,? said fourth-year head coach Roger White. ?We invested and tried hard, but struggled. We?ll gain a lot of character and determination from this loss, and come back home to reflect and recommit to our season goals, which include a conference championship.?
Up next for the Owls is Texas-El Paso next Thursday, April 14 at the Jake Hess Tennis Stadium.
Southern Methodist 6, No. 44 Rice 1
Doubles
1. Kouzmenko/Jones (SMU) def. DiSesa/Egic (Rice) 9-7
2. Leuszler/Langer (SMU) def. Chong/Patenaude (Rice) 8-2
3. Karas/Dao (Rice) def. Rambally/Rambally (SMU) 8-6
Singles
1. No. 82 Blair DiSesa (Rice) def. Svetlana Kouzmenko (SMU) 6-2, 6-3
2. Jenny Langer (SMU) def. Tracie Chong (Rice) 7-5, 6-2
3. Jen Chay (SMU) def. Kimberley Patenaude (Rice) 6-7, 6-1, 10-5
4. Allison Leuszler (SMU) def. Dominique Karas (Rice) 6-4, 6-2
5. Lynsie Jones (SMU) def. Christine Dao (Rice) 2-6, 6-4, 10-4
6. Halley Rambally (SMU) def. Medeja Egic (Rice) 6-4, 6-1
- RICE OWLS -
