Rice University
William & Mary
Owls Shut Down Tribe Rallies in 6-1 Win
3/23/2018 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
by Chuck Pool (cpool@rice.edu) -
Priya Niezgoda slammed home an overhead winner at deuce to clinch the doubles and then provided the clinching point of the match with a straight-set win in singles as the Rice women's tennis team knocked off 50th ranked William & Mary on Friday afternoon, 6-1, in the first of two weekend matches against nationally ranked opponents.
"I thought it was a solid match all the way down the courts from our team," Rice head coach Elizabeth Schmidt said. "We got some early leads in doubles and singles. William & Mary is a good team and are well-coached. They showed some resistance and didn't roll over. What we did a nice job of was stepping up and showing our resistance back and not let (their response) intimidate us. We stuck to our game."
After Savannah Durkin and Michaela Haet captured a quick 6-2 win on court three, Niezgoda and Fernanda Astete appeared positioned to give the Owls a quick clinch of the day's first point, rushing out to a quick 5-2 lead. But The Tribe's Lauren Goodman and Natalia Perry fought back to tie the match 5-5. Astete and Niezgoda snapped their losing streak with a hold and then clinched the point with Niezgoda's overhead with the 12th game at deuce.
Rice leveraged the momentum of the doubles point to take five of six first sets in singles. Freshman Anna Bowtell extended lead to 2-0 with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Goodman and remain unbeaten in dual singles this spring.
Wendy Zhang extended the lead to 3-0 with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Natalia Perry, setting the stage for Niezgoda to clinch the match with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Olivia Thaler.
Savannah Durkin and Lindsey Hodge followed with wins to complete the scoring for the Owls. Hodge defeated her second ranked opponent in the last three matches with a 7-5, 6-4 win overe Rosie Cheng, who was ranked 114th in the latest computer rankings released last Tuesday.
The Owls will be back on the court on Sunday when they host 36th ranked Princeton at 11 a.m.
Tennis Match Results
William & Mary vs Rice
3/23/2018 at Houston,
(George R. Brown Tennis Center)
Rice 6, #50 William & Mary 1
Singles competition
1. Lindsey Hodge (RICEW) def. #114 Rosie Cheng (WMW) 7-5, 6-4
2. #104 Wendy Zhang (RICEW) def. Natalia Perry (WMW) 6-4, 6-3
3. Clara Tanielian (WMW) def. Michaela Haet (RICEW) 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 1-0 (10-4)
4. Anna Bowtell (RICEW) def. Lauren Goodman (WMW) 6-2, 6-2
5. Savannah Durkin (RICEW) def. Ekaterina Stepanova (WMW) 6-3, 7-6 (7-3)
6. Priya Niezgoda (RICEW) def. Olivia Thaler (WMW) 6-3, 7-5
Doubles competition
1. #26 Lindsey Hodge/Wendy Zhang (RICEW) vs. Vitoria Okuyama/Clara Tanielian (WMW) 6-6
, unfinished
2. Priya Niezgoda/Fernanda Astete (RICEW) def. Lauren Goodman/Natalia Perry (WMW) 7-5
3. Savannah Durkin/Michaela Haet (RICEW) def. Rosie Cheng/Olivia Thaler (WMW) 6-2
Match Notes:
William & Mary 9-7; National ranking #50
Rice 9-6
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (4,2,6,1,3) T-3:31 A-55
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
3,2
#1 Singles Match
#2 Singles Match
#3 Singles Match
#4 Singles Match
#5 Singles Match
#6 Singles Match
Order of Finish:
4,2,6,1,5,3
Players Mentioned
