Schmidt Announces Newest Owls
6/14/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
By Chuck Pool (cpool@rice.edu) -
Rice head women's tennis coach Elizabeth Schmidt announced on Tuesday the signing of two talented newcomers to join the four-time Conference USA champion Owls for the 2016-17 campaign.
The Owls have signed high school senior Priya Niezgoda from Austin, Texas as well as Miami University transfer Wendy Zhang to letters of intent to play for the Owls.
"We are thrilled that both Wendy and Priya will be joining our team this fall," Schmidt said. "They are both tenacious competitors, have strong work ethic, and are team players. Both Priya and Wendy will be a great fit with the values of our program and we are looking forward to their arrival in August."
Niezgoda is listed as a 5-Star recruit on Tennisrecruiting.net and has been ranked as high as 27th nationally and third in the region. She has been consistently ranked in the top three in USTA' s Texas Section in ages U14, U16 & U18.
She has compiled twenty-three first or second place finishes in the National Level 2/Sectional level tournaments in U16 & U18 age groups. She was a quarterfinalist in 2015 Clay Courts Nationals and competed for Team Texas at the Girls 18 Nationals Team Championship. Niezgoda graduated from Chaparral Star Academy High School in Austin and was ranked second in her class with 3.966 GPA.
Zhang, who will be a junior this fall, earned All-American honors in doubles for the Hurricanes, finishing eighth with Stephanie Wagner in the final ITA rankings after posting a 17-9 record. She was also ranked 81st in singles after finishing 15-11 while primarily playing in the third position in the lineup. She earned ACC Player of the Week honors in early April with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 win versus then-No. 20 Joana Eidukonyte of Clemson.
During her career in juniors, Zhang's highest ITF Juniors ranking was No. 374 and she reached as high as No. 756 in the WTA doubles rankings and No. 808 in the WTA singles rankings
Players Mentioned
