Rice University
North Texas
Women's Tennis Sneaks Past North Texas
1/26/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Jan. 26, 2008
North Texas at Rice Box Score (PDF) 
HOUSTON - Rebecca Lin and Varsha Shiva-Shankar earned a pair of gritty three set victories as the Rice women's tennis team turned the tables on North Texas and emerged with a 4-3 victory in the season opener Saturday afternoon at Jake Hess Stadium.
"We didn't play steller, but did what we needed to do to get the job done," head coach Roger White said. "The good thing about a season opener is that we'll get better. North Texas played hard and competed tough. Sujay Lama has done an excellent job with their program."
Down 3-2, Lin and Shiva-Shankar produced identical 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 victories in the No. 4 and No. 6 holes, respectivly.
"I was proud of how disciplined Rebecca and Varsha played in a tight three set matches," White said. "They both played tough after losing the first set and executed when they needed to."
The Owls (1-0) dropped the doubles point as Catalina Cruz and Rachel Wilhelm came away with an 8-4 win over Rebecca Lin and Tiffany Lee at the No. 2 position.
North Texas (0-1) secured the 1-0 lead when Idalina Franca and Narine Kazarova upended Emily Braid and Varsha Shiva-Shankar 8-6 in the No. 3 spot.
After splitting the first 14 games, the top spot was decided in a tiebreaker. Julie Chao and Dominique Karas came away with a 7-5 victory over Amy Joubert and Madura Ranganathan.
Lee evened the score at 1-1 and dominated Cruz in a convincing 6-2, 6-1 triumph at the No. 3 slot.
Franca put the Mean Green back in front 2-1 with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Braid in the No. 5 position.
Chao, who is ranked No. 99 by the ITA, continued her strong play from the fall season and knotted the score at 2-2 with a 6-0, 7-5 win in the No. 1 spot.
North Texas regained a 3-2 edge with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 win at No. 2 from Kazarova over Karas.
Rice returns to the court Sunday against Lamar. First serve is scheduled for 1:30pm. Admission is free to Jake Hess Stadium.
Players Mentioned
