Rice University
Tulsa
Rice Falls Short In C-USA Semis
4/24/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 24, 2010
The 47th ranked Rice Owls fell short in their quest to reach the title match of the Conference USA Women's Tennis Championships, falling to the host Tulsa Golden Hurricane, 4-2 at the Case Tennis Center in Tulsa on Saturday afternoon.
"Today was a disappointing loss. It was unfortunate that we weren't able to pull out that doubles point," Rice head coach Elizabeth Schmidt said. "In the end, Tulsa just played the with more aggression than us on some courts and that proved to be the difference."
Tulsa grabbed the doubles point, and trading the first four singles matches, the Golden Hurricane clinched a berth in the finals when Anastasia Erofeeva downed Julie Chao 6-4, 6-4 at No. 2 singles.
The Owls picked up a pair of wins over nationally ranked opponents. Rice's top doubles team of Julie Chao and Ana Guzman, who were ranked 44th in the country, downed Tulsa's 46th ranked duo of JoAnne Karaitiana and Alexandra Kichoutkin,8-6. Rebekka Hänle, who entered the weekend ranked 89th in singles, defeated Kichoutkin, who was ranked 78th, 6-4, 6-3. The Owls other win in singles came at No. 3 where Jessica Jackson defeated Karaitiana 6-2, 6-2.
"Rebekka and Jess have both been very solid in big matches all season and, once again, they did an excellent job in singles today," Schmidt noted.
The Owls lost their fifth straight to 35th ranked Tulsa (20-5). Rice last defeated the Golden Hurricane on March 25, 2006 when they took a 4-3 decision at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium.
#35 Tulsa 4, #47 Rice 2
Singles competition
1. #89 Rebekka Hänle (RICE) def. #78 Alexandra Kichoutkin (TLS) 6-4, 6-3
2. Anastasia Erofeeva (TLS) def. Julie Chao (RICE) 6-4, 6-4
3. Jessica Jackson (RICE) def. JoAnne Karaitiana (TLS) 6-2, 6-2
4. Ewa Szatkowska (TLS) def. Ana Guzman (RICE) 6-3, 6-4
5. Rebecca Row (TLS) vs. Rebecca Lin (RICE) 6-4, 5-6, unfinished
6. Michelle Farley (TLS) def. Daniella Trigo (RICE) 7-6 (8-6), 6-1
Doubles competition
1. #44 Julie Chao/Ana Guzman (RICE) def. #46 JoAnne Karaitiana/Alexandra Kichoutkin (TLS) 8-6
2. Anastasia Erofeeva/Ewa Szatkowska (TLS) def. Jessica Jackson/Daniella Trigo (RICE) 8-5
3. Rebecca Row/Michelle Farley (TLS) def. Rebekka Hänle/Rebecca Lin (RICE) 9-7
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (4,1,6,3,2)
Players Mentioned
