Rice University Athletics
C-USA Women's Tennis Play Opens Thursday
4/15/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
2015 Women's Tennis Championship Central
Elizabeth Schmidt's 30th ranked Rice women's tennis team will be looking to become the third team in conference history to win three consecutive team titles when the Owls host the 20th Conference USA Women's Tennis Championship at the George R. Brown Tennis Center, April 16-19.
Competition begins on Thursday with a total of six matches. The Owls come into action as the top seed and will join second-seeded Marshall in receiving byes to Friday's quarterfinal round. All matches are scheduled to be played at the Owls' new tennis home, however should weather dictate, matches will move in indoor locations.
Rice comes in having won the last two titles, both on the road and is hosting the event for the first time at its new home for tennis. The Owls previously hosted the C-USA Championship at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium in 2009. The Owls are looking to join Tulane (2003-05) and Tulsa (2010-12) as the only schools to win three consecutive women's tennis titles and also match the Rice women's indoor and outdoor track teams as the only Owls' women's teams to win three consecutive C-USA crowns.
While such milestones might be notable, Schmidt noted they have not been a focal point of the Owls progression through the 2015 dual season.
"It's great that we have won the last two, but right now the focus is on the next match, which will be against either Charlotte or Florida Atlantic (who will meet in an opening match on Thursday morning). Our approach to this weekend will remain the same as it always is, we just take it one match at a time," Schmidt said.
"Obviously we have a calendar where we look to peak at certain times in terms of how we train, but on the court we always strive to keep things the same, whether we're playing for a conference championship or a dual match and whether we are playing at home or on the road. But what is exciting is that since these will be home matches, we hope we can get a good crowd out here, assuming the weather hold out."
Facing a shaky forecast for at least the first several days of the event, Schmidt said the experiences of the regular season are such to prepare her team for the potential of moving indoors or having delays in matches.
"We tell the team frequently that over the course of a season you have to be able to adapt and be flexible. I can point to a number of times this season where we had court changes, delayed flights, injuries, etc. What you set out as the play rarely plays out over the course of a season. But our team has shown a great ability to adapt and our freshmen have come to learn that is what college tennis is about and hopefully that will serve us well this weekend, because it looks like we'll have to be adaptable to the elements.
"There is only so much you can control, so we can't stress out about the things we can't control and have to manage the situation to the best of our abilities," Schmidt added.
The Owls (13-8) come in having won nine of their last 10 matches and vaulting 34 spots in the rankings to No. 30, their highest mark since the computerized rankings began in mid-February. Senior Natalie Beazant has risen to 21st in the national singles rankings and comes in as the highest ranked player in either singles or doubles.
"It's no secret that we hit a rough patch early in the season (dropping six consecutive matches to top 30 opponents) but what has been awesome is the way our team has thrived during the adversity and turned around the second half of the season. I think we have the ability to continue to improve, now it comes down to going out on the court and doing it," Schmidt stated.
Thursday's action opens with UTEP facing UTSA in addition to the Florida Atlantic -Charlotte opener. In other Thursday action, Middle Tennessee will face Western Kentucky, 66th ranked Old Dominion will take on UAB, FIU will meet Southern Mississippi and North Texas will take on Louisiana Tech.
A final determination of the location of Thursday's opening matches will be announced Thursday morning.
Rice will face the winner of the FAU-Charlotte match on Friday, while Marshall will face the winner between UTEP and UTSA in the first two quarterfinals on Friday. Semifinal matches are set for noon on Saturday while the championship match is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Sunday morning.
For updates throughout the weekend, follow the action on the official 2015 Women's Tennis Championship Central page.
Players Mentioned
