Rice University
SMU
No. 56 Women's Tennis Sweeps SMU
4/5/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 5, 2008
DALLAS - The No. 56 Rice women's tennis team closed out the regular season in style by routing conference rival SMU 7-0 Saturday afternon at the Turpin Tennis Center on the SMU campus.
Rice (16-4) extended its winning streak to nine matches and the 16-4 regular season record is the Owls best finish since the 1982 campaign.
Rice's No. 3 pair of Emily Braid and Varsha Shiva-Shankar reeled off an impressive 8-1 triumph to open doubles action against Sarah Acosta and Jordan Hamilton. Braid and Shiva-Shankar have won 11 straight decisions at the bottom of the doubles ledger.
SMU responded with an 8-2 win at the top of the lineup by Natalia Bubien and Pavi Francis over Julie Chao and Dominique Karas to even the doulbes tally.
The Owls fired back in the No. 2 match and secured the 1-0 edge heading into singles play as Tiffany Lee and Rebecca Lin took down Kristen Reid and Nicole Briceno, 8-2.
"SMU always is a tough program to compete against," head coach Roger White said. "I'm so proud of our team because the girls were ready focused after not having played a match since March 23."
Rice kept the momentum and won five of the six singles matches in straight sets. Shiva-Shankar emerged first at No. 6 with a 6-0, 6-0 victory against Acosta.
Karas pushed the Owls ahead 3-0 with her 11 consecutive singles win, a 6-1, 6-2 triumph, over Francis at the No. 2 position.
Braid provided the clinching point and notched a 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 5 against Lindsay Norman.
Chao upended No. 88 ranked Bubien in a hard-fought 6-4, 6-3 decision at the top spot, while Lee turned back Reid 6-3, 7-5 in the No. 3 hole to make it 6-0.
Lin charged back for a 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (6) comeback victory over Briceno in the No. 4 match to complete the sweep.
Christine Dao also notched a 6-0, 6-0 exhibition win over Hamilton.
Rice is currently the second highest ranked C-USA program and is only four spots behind Tulsa for the top honor. The No. 56 ranking is Owls highest since coming in at No. 51 to finish the 2005 season.
Players Mentioned
