Rice University
UTSA
Early Rally Sparks Owls to Berth in C-USA Semis
4/21/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
by Chuck Pool (cpool@rice.edu) -
Denton, TX--Facing four match points that would have given UTSA a split of the first two doubles matches, Savannah Durkin and Katherine Ip rebounded to take a 7-5 decision and spark the top-seeded Rice women's tennis team to a 5-0 win over the Roadrunners in the quarterfinals of the 2017 Conference USA Championship at the Waranch Tennis Complex on Friday.
Alison Ho and Priya Niezgoda gave the Owls the early advantage in the pursuit of the doubles point with a 6-1 win at the second position, but UTSA proved to be unwilling to surrender the point, taking 5-4 leads at both the first and third positions. While Ip and Durkin found themselves in the greatest peril, falling behind 40-0, Rice head coach Elizabeth Schmidt remained confident.
"We didn't play our best tennis but credit to UTSA for coming out on fire," Schmidt said. "We had some experienced players out there (on the remaining courts). All of our upperclassmen were on one and three and they showed their experience."
Durkin said she and Ip fought back by sticking to the Owls consistent game plan.
"It was definitely hard being down 5-4 ,40 love but then Katherine and I just looked at each other and said we'd focus on one point at time, scrambling for balls, fighting for every point every time," Durkin said.
After the scare in doubles, the Owls stormed to straight set wins in singles as Durkin and Ho quickly extended the lead to 3-0.
Lindsey Hodge and Wendy Zhang followed shortly after, winning their matches almost simultaneously to extend the margin to 5-0. Hodge, who came into weekend ranked 110th nationally, reversed an earlier decision against UTSA's 100th ranked Miriam Rosell Canudas, who had defeated Hodge in February during a dual a match between the two schools.
The four-time champion Owls will face host North Texas in the semifinals on Saturday at noon. The Mean Green defeated ODU 4-0 on Friday afternoon. This marks the ninth time in as many seasons that Schmidt has led the Owls into the C-USA semifinals and with a win on Saturday, the Owls would reach their sixth consecutive C-USA Championship match.
Saturday's match will be 14th between the two schools, the last two coming in the C-USA semifinals with the Owls winning 4-0 in 2014 and 4-1 last year. Rice holds a 9-4 lead in the series and has won the last three meetings overall.
No. 9 UTSA vs No. 1 Rice
4/21/ 2017 at Denton, TX
(Waranch Tennis Complex)
#37 No. 1 Rice 5, No. 9 UTSA 0
Singles competition
1. #110 Lindsey Hodge (RICE) def. #100 M. Rosell Canudas (UTSA) 6-1, 6-3
2. Katherine Ip (RICE) vs. Denisa Ibrahimovic (UTSA) 6-1, 4-4, unfinished
3. Wendy Zhang (RICE) def. Charleen Tiwari (UTSA) 6-2, 6-2
4. Fernanda Astete (RICE) vs. Lina Hallgren (UTSA) 5-6, unfinished
5. Savannah Durkin (RICE) def. Laura Cabrera (UTSA) 6-1, 6-0
6. Alison Ho (RICE) def. Kylee Kato (UTSA) 6-2, 6-2
Doubles competition
1. #90 Lindsey Hodge/Wendy Zhang (RICE) vs. M. Rosell Canudas/Kylee Kato (UTSA) 6-5, unfinished
2. Alison Ho/Priya Niezgoda (RICE) def. Denisa Ibrahimovic/S. Madroñal Medina (UTSA) 6-1
3. Katherine Ip/Savannah Durkin (RICE) def. Lina Hallgren/Charleen Tiwari (UTSA) 7-5
Match Notes:
No. 9 UTSA 12-9
No. 1 Rice 16-5; National ranking #37
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (5,6,1,3)
T-2:10
Players Mentioned
