Rice University
ITA Texas Regional Championship Presented by Oracle
Astete Leads Owls In Regional Opener
10/20/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
By Chuck Pool (cpool@Rice.edu) -
Fernanda Astete upset the 16th seed to lead a parade of five Rice women's tennis player into the round of 32 in the singles competition at the ITA Texas Regional Championship Presented by Oracle in Waco on Thursday.
Astete, Lindsey Hodge, Alison Ho, and Priya Niezgoda each picked up a pair of wins to join Wendy Zhang, who picked up a win after an opening round bye to move on to the winner's bracket on Friday. Savannah Durkin won her opening match before falling in her second to move into the consolation round.
Rice finished the first day of action with a 10-1 record in singles and also won all three opening doubles matches.
Astete opened with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Darinka Tiboldi of SFA and then outlasted Texas A&M's 16th seed Macarena Olivares Texas A&M 6-2, 7-6 (5). She will meet Baylor's Jessica Hinojosa Gomez at 2:30 on Friday.
Ho opened with wins over Daria Sharapova of SMU, 6-4. 6-1 and Katsiaryna Lapayeva of Lamar 6-3, 6-0 and will face ninth seed Neda Koprcina of Texas in the round of 32.
Hodge shook off an opening set loss to defeat Ana Luisa Perez Lopez of SMU 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 in the opening round and has an easier time with Erin N. Walker of Abilene Christian, 6-2, 6-0. She will face the 10th seed, Seda Arantekin of TCU on Friday.
Niezgoda opened her first regional competition by defeating Khee Yen Wee of Sam Houston 6-3, 6-3 and Anna Spengler of Lamar 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 to earn a spot in the round of 32 against Petra Granic of Texas, the 15th seed.
Zhang, who is seeded fifth, opened play in the round of 64 and advanced with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Sam Houston's Fabienne Gettwart and will take on Baylor's Theresa Van Zyl.
In doubles. Hodge and Niezgoda took an 8-0 decision over Laura Cabrera and Denisa Ibrahimovic of UTSA and Durkin and Ho matched that score in their opener against Alejandra Landaluce and Alejandra Tamayo Gomez of Incarnate Word. Astete and Zhang opened with an 8-5 win over SMU's Sara Jamal and Ellie Zogg.
Play opens at 10:30 with the Round of 16 in doubles at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center and Hurd Tennis Center on the campus of Baylor University.
Players Mentioned
