Rice University
Texas A&M
Owls Bowl Over 15th Ranked Aggies
2/5/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
by Chuck Pool (cpool@rice.edu) -
Katherine Ip and Savannah Durkin fought off six match points in doubles to provide the crucial first point as the Rice women's tennis posted its first win over Texas A&M since 2000, 4-1 in College Station on Sunday afternoon.
The win was the first for the Owls against the 15th ranked Aggies since Rice took a 5-4 decision at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium on March 23, 2000.
Rice head coach Elizabeth Schmidt said the lessons the Owls learned last weekend in a tense 4-2 loss to #18 USC in the ITA Kickoff Weekend paid dividends on Sunday against the Aggies, who advanced to the ITA Indoor Nationals with a pair of wins last weekend.
"We learned a lot last weekend and came home with the realization of how close we had come to beating USC. We used that experience today to fight off some nerves at crucial points," Schmidt said.
No point was more crucial than the final games to decide the doubles point in a meeting of two teams who had yet to lose the point this year.
After Alison Ho and Priya Niezgoda stormed to a 6-1 win on court two and A&M answered with a 6-4 win on court one, Durkin and Ip faced an daunting challenge, trailing 5-3 and down 40-0. But they battled back to stay in the match, only to again find themselves on the brink of defeat, trailing 6-5 and down 40-30.
They rallied to win the last two points, then rolled through the tiebreaker 7-0 to give the Owls the early lead.
"They (Durkin and Ip) got away from the game plan in the middle of the match, but then they went back to staying committed to each shot and did what they needed to do," Schmidt noted.
Fresh off the dramatic turn of events in doubles, the Owls had to endure a brief disruption to their momentum when a short rain shower halted play. Schmidt said she was proud to see how the interruptions to the match had little impact on her team.
"We talk all the time about how you have to be prepared for things that are out of your control and we did a great job of that today."
Alison Ho came storming out of the delay to quickly up the lead to 2-0 with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Stefania Hristov and Ip extended it to 3-0 with win over 57th ranked Tina Bokhua in straight sets.
Junior Lindsey Hodge, who had just missed a chance to clinch the match on her own serve, closed it out with a service break of her own to defeat Rutuja Bhosale, 6-4, 6-3.
While pleased with the milestone win over A&M, Schmidt said the most important result will be what lies ahead.
"This was a great team effort today, but the most important thing is how we take what we learned today and use it to get better. We've got a big match next week in Waco and that's where our focus is now."
Rice vs Texas A&M
2/5/2017 at College Station, Texas
(George P. Mitchell Tennis Center)
Rice 4, #15 Texas A&M 1
Singles competition
1. #85 Rachel Pierson (A&M) vs. Wendy Zhang (RICE) 6-1, 6-5, unfinished
2. Lindsey Hodge (RICE) def. Rutuja Bhosale (A&M) 6-4, 6-3
3. #110 Katherine Ip (RICE) def. #57 Tina Bokhua (A&M) 6-1, 6-4
4. Macarena Olivares (A&M) def. Fernanda Astete (RICE) 6-2, 6-2
5. #102 Alison Ho (RICE) def. Stefania Hristov (A&M) 6-2, 6-2
6. Domenica Gonzalez (A&M) vs. Savannah Durkin (RICE) 3-6, 6-4, unfinished
Doubles competition
1. #17 Rutuja Bhosale/Rachel Pierson (A&M) def. Lindsey Hodge/Wendy Zhang (RICE) 6-4
2. Alison Ho/Priya Niezgoda (RICE) def. Domenica Gonzalez/Eva Paalma (A&M) 6-1
3. Savannah Durkin/Katherine Ip (RICE) def. Tina Bokhua/Stefania Hristov (A&M) 7-6 (7-0)
Match Notes:
Rice 4-1
Texas A&M 5-1; National ranking #15
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (5,3,4,2)
A-181
Players Mentioned
