Rice University Athletics
2011 Rice Invitational Set for the Weekend
10/6/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Oct. 6, 2011
HOUSTON - Rice University will have a total of six singles players competing in a pair of flights this weekend as the Owls play host to the 2011 Rice Invitational. The tournament will also include a doubles bracket with teams beginning play at 9 a.m. on Friday.
Singles play begins at 10 a.m. Friday. Both singles and doubles play continues through Sunday at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium.
Making up the balance of the tournament field will be DePaul, LSU, Penn State, Texas and Tulane.
Competing in the Blue Singles draw for Rice will be Natalie Beazant, Katie Gater and Dominique Harmath. The Owls will be represented in the Gray Singles draw by Kimberly Anicete, Leah Fried and Stephanie Nguyen.
Beazant will take on Marie-Frederique Bedard while Gater will play LSU's Yvette Vlaar in Blue Singles first-round action. Harmath will receive a first-round bye and will play either DePaul's Patricia Fargas or Penn State's Nina Sertic in a quarterfinal match. Quarterfinals will be played at 1 p.m. on Friday.
In Gray Singles action, Anicete plays Penn State's Maria Prishlyak, Fried plays Tulane's Emily Dvorak and Nguyen takes on Penn State's Sarah Henderson on Friday.
Teaming for doubles play this weekend for the Owls will be Beazant and Nguyen, Gater and Harmath and Anicete and Fried.
This weekend's tournament will be the third for the Rice women this fall.
Rice competed at the Midland Invite and Texas' Longhorn Invitational during the month of September. The Owls' sent half of the team to each tournament.
"Overall, they were both solid weekends and I saw a lot of exciting things from this young team," said Rice tennis coach Elizabeth Schmidt. "We have also been very pleased with the work ethic and determination that the team has been showing in practice and feel confident this is going to help us as we embark on the season."
This weekend's tournament will be the first event for three newcomers, Gater, a transfer from Virginia and freshmen Beazant and Nguyen.
Players Mentioned
