Rice University Athletics
Friday, January 18
Houston, Texas
2:00 PM
Rice University
6
vs
1
Lamar
Owls Surge Past Cardinals
1/18/2019 5:41:00 PM | Women's Tennis
The Lead: Rice shook off an early challenge in doubles to down Lamar 6-1 in the Owls opening dual match of the 2019 season at the George R. Brown Tennis Center on Friday.
The Details: Facing the Cardinals in the season opener for the eighth consecutive year, Rice found itself in danger of dropping the doubles point after splitting matches on the first two courts and trailing on the third. However, Anna Bowtell and Victoria Smirnova battled back from a 4-1 deficit to take a 7-5 decision and give the Owls the early lead. Bowtell and Priya Niezgoda quickly pushed the lead to 3-0 with straight set singles wins and Smirnova provided the clinching point with a win at the first singles line. Her twin sister Anastasia added the fifth point and Diae El Jardi closed out the match with a win on six. The wins for the Smirnovas and El Jardi came in their first career college dual matches.
Head Coach Elizabeth Schmidt: "It's good to get that first match under our belts. We had four players (the Smirnovas, El Jardi and Colorado transfer Linda Huang) who were playing their first dual for Rice. They were working through nerves and working through a new environment. A dual match is entirely different than anything else you play in junior tennis. It was nice we were able to pull out the team "W" today. Definitely a lot of things we can work on and we'll get back to work tomorrow morning and start preparing for our next match. It was great to see Anna and Priya go out and play settled tennis, which is what you need to do in these conditions."
Up Next: Rice will face Baylor on Monday in Waco. First serves are set for 2 p.m.
The Details: Facing the Cardinals in the season opener for the eighth consecutive year, Rice found itself in danger of dropping the doubles point after splitting matches on the first two courts and trailing on the third. However, Anna Bowtell and Victoria Smirnova battled back from a 4-1 deficit to take a 7-5 decision and give the Owls the early lead. Bowtell and Priya Niezgoda quickly pushed the lead to 3-0 with straight set singles wins and Smirnova provided the clinching point with a win at the first singles line. Her twin sister Anastasia added the fifth point and Diae El Jardi closed out the match with a win on six. The wins for the Smirnovas and El Jardi came in their first career college dual matches.
Head Coach Elizabeth Schmidt: "It's good to get that first match under our belts. We had four players (the Smirnovas, El Jardi and Colorado transfer Linda Huang) who were playing their first dual for Rice. They were working through nerves and working through a new environment. A dual match is entirely different than anything else you play in junior tennis. It was nice we were able to pull out the team "W" today. Definitely a lot of things we can work on and we'll get back to work tomorrow morning and start preparing for our next match. It was great to see Anna and Priya go out and play settled tennis, which is what you need to do in these conditions."
Up Next: Rice will face Baylor on Monday in Waco. First serves are set for 2 p.m.
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
2,1,3
#1 Singles Match
12
Jasmin Buchta / 0 [LU-W]
43
66
#2 Singles Match
12
Bianca Vitale / 0 [LU-W]
77
55
#3 Singles Match
123
Sanja Jolic / 0 [LU-W]
362
646
#4 Singles Match
12
Amelie Vossgaetter / 0 [LU-W]
22
66
#5 Singles Match
12
Natalia Molina / 0 [LU-W]
22
66
#6 Singles Match
123
Laura Sola Grau / 0 [LU-W]
464
616
Order of Finish:
4,5,1,3,2
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
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