Rice University
Princeton
Princeton Outlasts Rice
3/19/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
By Chuck Pool (cpool@rice.edu)
Katherine Ip raced to an early win while Lindsey Hodge and Savannah Durkin rallied for three-set victories, but the Princeton Tigers held on for a 4-3 win over the Owls at the George R. Brown Tennis Center on Saturday.
Rice fell to 7-6 with the loss while Princeton improved to 8-7, including a 5-1 win over Houston on Thursday.
"Everyone on the country knows that Princeton is a very good team and are better than their record might have indicated," Rice head coach Elizabeth Schmidt said. "We fought extremely hard, especially on those last three matches where we came back from being a set down. Good teams like this are not going to give you a lot of opportunities, but when they do you have to seize them. I think we did that on some courts, but we need to do it on more of them."
The Tigers took the early lead by grabbing the doubles point. After a Princeton win on court three and a Rice win on two, the outcome came down to court one where the Tigers came back from a 3-2 deficit to win 6-4.
The Tigers kept the pressure on when singles began, taking first sets on five of six courts.
Junior Katherine Ip was the lone Rice player to take an early lead and she carried her hot start into the second set, winning 6-1, 6-0 to tie the match at 1-1.
"That was a great job by Katherine to take control early and then get off the court with a point," Schmidt said. "She opened the door for a comeback."
Princeton pushed back out to a 3-1 lead with straight set wins on courts three and six, but found the clinching point in doubt as Hodge, Durkin and Alison Ho rallied.
Hodge dropped nine of the first ten games in her match, but found her footing to take the second set 6-4 and then held off a late rally by the Tigers' Amanda Muliawan to win 0-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Durkin came back from a first set lost to the tie the match 3-3 with a 5-7, 6-1, 6-3 win over Nicole Kalthorn.
Ho rebounded from a 3-5 deficit in the second to force a third set, but could not complete the comeback as Princeton's Caroline Joyce clinched the match with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 win.
Schmidt and the Owls will take to the road next weekend to New Haven, Connecticut for matches against Yale and No. 33 William and Mary.
"We've got to keep plugging away and keep getting better," Schmidt stated. "The good news is we have time to keep working hard on the practice court in order to get where we want to be."
Tennis Match Results
Princeton vs Rice
3/19/2016 at Houston, TX
(George R. Brown Tennis Center)
Princeton 4, #46 Rice 3
Singles competition
1. #99 Lindsey Hodge (RICE) def. Amanda Muliawan (PRIN) 0-6, 6-4, 6-3
2. #41 Katherine Ip (RICE) def. Sivan Krems (PRIN) 6-1, 6-0
3. Katrine Steffensen (PRIN) def. Emily Smith (RICE) 6-4, 6-0
4. Caroline Joyce (PRIN) def. Alison Ho (RICE) 6-3, 5-7, 6-3
5. Savannah Durkin (RICE) def. Nicole Kalhorn (PRIN) 5-7, 6-1, 6-3
6. DorothyTang (PRIN) def. Solomiya Zinko (RICE) 6-1, 6-1
Doubles competition
1. Amanda Muliawan/Dorothy Tang (PRIN) def. Emily Smith/Alison Ho (RICE) 6-4
2. Solomiya Zinko/Katherine Ip (RICE) def. Emily Hahn/Katrine Steffensen (PRIN) 6-3
3. Caroline Joyce/Nicole Kalhorn(PRIN) def. Savannah Durkin/Lindsey Hodge (RICE) 6-3
Match Notes:
Princeton 8-7
Rice 7-6; National ranking #46
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (2,3,6,1,5,4)
T-2:59
Players Mentioned
