Weekend Slate Has Added Meaning for Schmidt

The Rice women's tennis team closes out a stretch of five consecutive home matches this weekend with a pair of matches that have additional special meaning for Owls head coach Elizabeth Schmidt.

The Owls will welcome Denver to the George R. Brown Tennis Center on Friday at 1 p.m. and then Minnesota at 10 a.m. on Sunday. Denver head coach Christian (Thompson) Bass and Minnesota head coach Katrina Thompson made up one of the dominant doubles teams in college tennis while playing at Notre Dame from 2003-07 and were coached by Schmidt at the end of their career when Schmidt was the assistant coach for the Irish. They were the top ranked doubles team in the ITA rankings during both the 2005 and 2006 seasons set a school record with 104 career wins.

Schmidt has faced Bass twice since she became head coach in Denver. The Owls downed the Pioneers 4-0 in Waco in the opening round of the 2014 NCAA tournament while Denver blanked the Owls 4-0 last year in Denver. She has never faced Thompson and Sunday's dual will mark the first meeting between the Owls and Gophers in women's tennis in over 20 years.

Rice last face Minnesota in 1998 when the Owls picked up a 5-4 win over the Gophers in Minneapolis and the renewal of the series came about as part of an effort by Schmidt and her former players to set up a match between each other.

"We played in Denver last year and had a home and home with them. Christian indicated she wanted to schedule a second match while they were going to be in Houston this year," Schmidt staid. "At some point last year, I asked her what she thought about getting Katrina down here so their teams could play each other and she thought that would be a lot of fun. We got an email chain going and we able to find a date that worked for all three programs."

When those two schools will face off in a dual on Saturday at 10 a.m. that will mark the first time that the sisters have coached against each other as well as serve as a buffer between matches against their former coach.
Rice (6-4) enters the weekend ranked 47^th in the latest Oracle ITA computer rankings while Denver (8-2) comes in ranked 40^th. The Pioneers opened their dual season in the ITA Kickoff with a 4-0 win over Oregon before falling to Pepperdine, 4-0. (Pepperdine is currently ranked 17^th in the computer rankings and will be in Houston to face the Owls on March 15). The Pioneers ripped off seven straight wins before dropping a 5-2 decision at No. 30 UCF last weekend.

"Christian does a really good job getting her team ready to go," Schmidt said. "Every time we have faced them, they compete hard. We're going to have to be ready to go as well. They got the best of us last year. They graduated several players, we graduated several, but while there will be new players on the courts this year, the culture for each program remains the same."

Minnesota (5-5) opened its season with a 4-0 loss to Schmidt's alma matter (UCLA) but bounced back the next day to defeat defending C-USA champion FIU, 4-1. They won their next four matches, but have lost their last four, including a 5-2 loss at Wisconsin on Sunday.

"Minnesota had a really good start to their spring. Katrina has played at the highest level and has coached at the highest level when she was an assistant at Notre Dame. I am sure her team is going to be ready to play. She will get the best out of them. We've never seen them so we don't know much about them, but we'll be ready to go," Schmidt said.

While the focus will be on the matches at hand and seeing her Owls continue to improve. Schmidt admits the weekend will have special meaning.

"I couldn't think of two greater women to be role models for other young women. I remember when we have played UCLA a couple of times I was Stella's (UCLA head coach Stella Sampras Webster) former player coming back as a head coach. It's a special time. It's great to see when players keep their love and passion for the game and to see them pass that on to the next generation."

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