Saturday, February 23
Houston, Texas
1:00 pm
Rice University
4
vs
0
UT Arlington
Owls Blank Mavericks
2/23/2019 3:25:00 PM | Women's Tennis
Host Texas at 11 a.m. on Sunday
The Lead: The Rice women's tennis team shook off a weather-induced false start to their day to race to a 4-0 win over UTA at the George R. Brown Tennis Center on Saturday. Originally scheduled for 11 a.m., the match was moved back to noon because of morning rains in Houston, then the teams were chased from the courts for a second hour delay by a second short rain shower just as warmups began.
Doubles: Rice set the tone for the day by quickly grabbing the doubles point with wins at the second and third lines. Priya Niezgoda and Anastasia Smirnova, currently ranked 49th in the nation, improved to 7-1 on the season by providing the clinching win.
Singles: The Owls carried the momentum into doubles, racing to first set wins on all six courts while dropping a combined seven games. Victoria and Anastasia Smirnova pushed the lead to 3-0 and Anna Bowtell followed shortly after with the final point to clinch the match.
Elizabeth Schmidt: "We were very workman like and played disciplined, solid tennis. It was nice to be back home and get outside and play the way we did today. We took a step forward and that is what we're always looking to do. Today gave us a chance to grow, because we were walking on the court to warm up at 11 and all of the sudden we're delayed another hour. You're getting your adrenalin up and then it goes down. Those are the kinds of things that happen in the course of a season. Anytime that can happen, it's a great opportunity for us to respond and be better. I think our team did a very nice job handling the elements today… the rain delay and then the wind out here. We showed some good maturity."
Up Next: Rice will host the Texas Longhorns, who are ranked seventh in the Tennis Channel/USTA media poll and ninth in the Oracle/ITA computer rankings, at 11 a.m. on Sunday. The first 100 fans in attendance will receive free donuts and fans will also receive a free ticket to Sunday's finale of Rice-UC Irvine baseball series.
Doubles: Rice set the tone for the day by quickly grabbing the doubles point with wins at the second and third lines. Priya Niezgoda and Anastasia Smirnova, currently ranked 49th in the nation, improved to 7-1 on the season by providing the clinching win.
Singles: The Owls carried the momentum into doubles, racing to first set wins on all six courts while dropping a combined seven games. Victoria and Anastasia Smirnova pushed the lead to 3-0 and Anna Bowtell followed shortly after with the final point to clinch the match.
Elizabeth Schmidt: "We were very workman like and played disciplined, solid tennis. It was nice to be back home and get outside and play the way we did today. We took a step forward and that is what we're always looking to do. Today gave us a chance to grow, because we were walking on the court to warm up at 11 and all of the sudden we're delayed another hour. You're getting your adrenalin up and then it goes down. Those are the kinds of things that happen in the course of a season. Anytime that can happen, it's a great opportunity for us to respond and be better. I think our team did a very nice job handling the elements today… the rain delay and then the wind out here. We showed some good maturity."
Up Next: Rice will host the Texas Longhorns, who are ranked seventh in the Tennis Channel/USTA media poll and ninth in the Oracle/ITA computer rankings, at 11 a.m. on Sunday. The first 100 fans in attendance will receive free donuts and fans will also receive a free ticket to Sunday's finale of Rice-UC Irvine baseball series.
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
3,2
#1 Singles Match
123
Momoka Horiguchi / 0 [UTA]
030
64UF
#2 Singles Match
12
Carla Pons / 0 [UTA]
12
66
#3 Singles Match
12
Lucia Natal / 0 [UTA]
21
66
#4 Singles Match
12
Nanaka Takeuchi / 0 [UTA]
22
66
#5 Singles Match
123
Carla Cerdan Vives / 0 [UTA]
120
63UF
#6 Singles Match
123
Almudena Boza / 0 [UTA]
130
65UF
Order of Finish:
2,3,4
Players Mentioned
WBB: Rice vs. Marshall Postgame Presser
Wednesday, March 09
VB: Rice-Texas Postgame Presser
Saturday, December 04
VB: Rice-San Diego Postgame Presser
Thursday, December 02