Rice University Athletics
Ip and Smith Set for NCAA Debuts
5/24/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
By Chuck Pool (cpook@rice.edu) -
Rice junior Katherine Ip will face two-time SEC Player of the Year Brooke Austin of Florida at 2 p.m. Wednesday in the opening round of singles action at the NCAA Women's Tennis Championship in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Ip and freshman Emily Smith will make their doubles debut on Thursday when they face UCLA's two-time, All-Americans Catherine Harrison and Kyle McPhillips in the opening round of doubles action.
Ip finished the dual season with a 13-6 record while playing at the second position in the Owls' lineup and was a combined 25-10 in dual and tournament action this past year. Her top win was a 6-2, 6-2 decision over No., 28 Joana Eidukonyte, of Clemson to clinch the Owls opening round win in the NCAA Championship. It was the third consecutive year Ip has delivered the clinching point in the Owls opening round win in the NCAA team competition.
Austin has compiled a 20-6 overall singles record with a 14-2 dual match record and 9-1 mark in SEC play. She is currently ranked No. 4 in the Oracle/ITA singles rankings and was named the ITA 2016 Player to Watch.
Ip and Smith were 14-5 in dual action and are currently ranked 57th nationally. They moved into the No. 1 spot in doubles USF and won seven of their last nine , including a 7-5 win over then #10 Blair Shankle and Kiah Generette of Baylor which boosted them into the national rankings and a 6-2 win over Vanderbilt's No. 14 Courtney Colton/Sydney Campbell in the second round of the NCAA team championship.
Harrison and McPhillips are 15-3 this year and currently ranked eighth in the nation.
Live scoring and video for all matches of the NCAA Championships are available here: http://streamingtennis.com/Tulsa/
Players Mentioned
