Rice University
Louisville
Seniors Close Out Home Career in Style
4/15/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 15, 2011
The Rice women's tennis team pieced together one of their best efforts of the year in the final home match for three seniors, blanking Louisville 7-0 at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium on Friday afternoon.
Prior to the start of the match, the 65th ranked Owls (13-9) honored seniors Rebekka Hänle, Jessica Jackson and Varsha Shiva-Shankar and then made quick work of the Cardinals (11-10) to close out the regular season schedule on a winning note.
"I can't say enough about Varsha, Rebekka, and Jess and what they have meant to our program," Rice head coach Elizabeth Schmidt said. "They are an amazing group of seniors and we are going to miss them greatly next year but look forward to building on the foundation that they have created."
Jackson combined with Daniella Trigo to race to an 8-1 win at No. 3 doubles and set the stage for what was to follow. The Owls eventually swept all three matches to take the first point of the day.
Jackson continued her strong play in singles, taking her first set 6-0, on her way to a straight set win at No. 3. Hänle overcame a first set loss at No. 1 to close out the match with a 10-4 in the third set super tiebreaker to complete the sweep for the Owls.
The Owls tw0 freshmen, Dominique Harmath and Kim Anicete, wrapped up their first collegiate regular season with wins in singles to post a combined 30-12 record. Anicete led the Owls with a 16-5 mark this year, while Harmath finished the year at 14-7 in singles.
The Owls will now wait to learn their seeding for next week's Conference USA Tennis Championship, which will be hosted by UCF, beginning Thursday.
"This was an excellent way for us to end our regular season," Schmidt stated. "We fought through some adversity and a tough Louisville team to capture every match. I am proud of our team and excited for the conference tournament."
Tennis Match Results
Louisville vs. Rice
4/15/2011 at Houston, TX
(Jake Hess Tennis Stadium)
#65 Rice 7, Louisville 0
Singles competition
1. Rebekka Hänle (RICE) def. Julia Fellerhoff (LVILLE) 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-4)
2. Dominique Harmath (RICE) def. Rebecca Shine (LVILLE) 6-3, 6-3
3. Jessica Jackson (RICE) def. Kaysara Mandry (LVILLE) 6-0, 6-3
4. Ana Guzman (RICE) def. Amelia Harris (LVILLE) 2-6, 7-5, 1-0 (10-3)
5. Kim Anicete (RICE) def. Sonia Bokhari (LVILLE) 6-3, 6-3
6. Alex Rasch (RICE) def. Stefanie Villajuan (LVILLE) 6-3, 6-0
Doubles competition
1. Rebekka Hänle/Ana Guzman (RICE) def. Julia Fellerhoff/Rebecca Shine (LVILLE) 8-5
2. Alex Rasch/Dominique Harmath (RICE) def. Kaysara Mandry/Amelia Harris (LVILLE) 8-1
3. Daniella Trigo/Jessica Jackson (RICE) def. Sonia Bokhari/Stefanie Villajuan (LVILLE) 8-4
Match Notes:
Louisville 11-10
Rice 13-9; National ranking #65
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (6,2,3,5,4,1)
Players Mentioned
