Rice University
LSU
Owls Win Fifth Straight
2/7/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Feb. 7, 2012
The Rice women's tennis team opened a run of six consecutive road matches by extending their season-opening winning streak to five with a 5-2 win over #65 LSU at Dub Robinson Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The Owls' winning streak is their longest to open a season since 2005 when they won their first six matches.
"This was a incredible team effort, up and down the lineup," Rice head coach Elizabeth Schmidt said. "We came out with a lot of intensity from the start and really took it to them hard in doubles. It was important to make a statement early against a team like LSU," she added.
The 69th ranked Owls, who had not lost a set in their first four matches of the season, were facing a ranked opponent for the first time in 2012, as well as a Tiger team that had dropped a tight, 4-3 match at Jake Hess in 2011.
"Our energy level on every court was fabulous," Schmidt said. "After the match we had last year and the way they had played (Texas) A&M this weekend, we knew it was going to be a battle and we really stepped up," she added.
The Owls grabbed the doubles point with wins at #2 and #1 but it was the inspired play of the two players (Kimberly Anicente and Stephanie Nguyen) in singles who had lost their doubles set that set the tone for the match.
"I was really proud of how Kim and Stephanie rebounded from a tough doubles loss to come right back and play great tennis in singles. Stephanie has really answered the call for us," Schmidt added.
Anicente bounced back from the loss in singles to blitz past Keri Frankenberger in straight sets to put the Owls up 2-0. After LSU cut the margin to 2-1 with a win at #2, Natalie Beazant and Kate Gater responded with straight set wins to clinch the match.
Nguyen closed out the Rice scoring, winning a second-set tiebreak to win in straight sets.
The Owls ran their road record to 2-0 this season, which already doubles their road win total from last season (1-6). Their road swing continues the weekend when they meet 74th ranked Florida International in the first round of the Lady Raider Shootout in Lubbock, Texas. First serve is set for noon.
#69 Rice 5, #65 LSU 2
Feb 07, 2012
Singles competition
1. Natalie Beazant (RICE) def. Whitney Wolf (LSU) 7-5, 6-2
2. Olivia Howlett (LSU) def. Dominique Harmath (RICE) 6-2, 6-4
3. Kaitlin Burns (LSU) def. Ana Guzman (RICE) 6-7 (3-7), 6-1, 1-0 (11-9)
4. Katie Gater (RICE) def. Ebie Wilson (LSU) 6-3, 6-2
5. Kimberly Anicete (RICE) def. Keri Frankenberger (LSU) 6-2, 6-3
6. Stephanie Nguyen (RICE) def. Yvette Vlaar (LSU) 6-3, 7-6 (7-2)
Doubles competition
1. Dominique Harmath/Natalie Beazant (RICE) def. Whitney Wolf/Keri Frankenberger (LSU) 8-5
2. Ana Guzman/Katie Gater (RICE) def. Olivia Howlett/Yvette Vlaar (LSU) 8-5
3. Ebie Wilson/Kaitlin Burns (LSU) def. Kimberly Anicete/Stephanie Nguyen (RICE) 8-5
Match Notes:
Rice 5-0; National ranking #69
LSU 1-1; National ranking #65
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (5,2,1,4,6,3)
Players Mentioned
