Friday, April 19
Houston, Texas
10 am
Rice University
4
vs
0
Middle Tennessee
Owls Sweep Into C-USA Semifinals
4/19/2019 8:04:00 PM | Women's Tennis
Meet FAU at noon on Saturday
The Lead: The Rice women's tennis team opened its pursuit for a seventh Conference USA title by dispatching Middle Tennessee 4-0 on Friday at the George R. Brown Tennis Center.
Doubles: The Owls (14-7) grabbed the opening point with wins at the second and third lines while dropping only three combined games.
Singles: The Owls carried their momentum over into singles, winning five of six first sets and sending their lone first set loss to a third set. Anna Bowtell gave Rice a 2-0 lead with a 6-0, 6-2 win at the fifth position and she was followed by 70th ranked Michaela Haet who closed out a 6-3, 6-0 win at the first line and Victoria Smirnova, who improved to a team-leading 14-5 in the dual season with a 6-0, 6-4 win.
Elizabeth Schmidt: "It's always nice to get that first win under your belt in any tournament and I thought our team did a nice job finding a way today. On some courts, we played very solid tennis. On a couple others we were shaky, but we were able to step up and find a way to compete hard in some tough conditions against a Middle Tennessee team that was going to make us work."
Up Next: A meeting of the Owls will be featured in one semifinal as Rice and FAU will battle for a spot in the C-USA championship match at noon on Saturday. This will be the first meeting between the two schools in women's tennis. The other semifinal will feature top seeded ODU and North Texas, which advanced with a 4-3 win over defending champion FIU.
Doubles: The Owls (14-7) grabbed the opening point with wins at the second and third lines while dropping only three combined games.
Singles: The Owls carried their momentum over into singles, winning five of six first sets and sending their lone first set loss to a third set. Anna Bowtell gave Rice a 2-0 lead with a 6-0, 6-2 win at the fifth position and she was followed by 70th ranked Michaela Haet who closed out a 6-3, 6-0 win at the first line and Victoria Smirnova, who improved to a team-leading 14-5 in the dual season with a 6-0, 6-4 win.
Elizabeth Schmidt: "It's always nice to get that first win under your belt in any tournament and I thought our team did a nice job finding a way today. On some courts, we played very solid tennis. On a couple others we were shaky, but we were able to step up and find a way to compete hard in some tough conditions against a Middle Tennessee team that was going to make us work."
Up Next: A meeting of the Owls will be featured in one semifinal as Rice and FAU will battle for a spot in the C-USA championship match at noon on Saturday. This will be the first meeting between the two schools in women's tennis. The other semifinal will feature top seeded ODU and North Texas, which advanced with a 4-3 win over defending champion FIU.
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
2,3
#1 Singles Match
12
Costanza Magazzini / 0 [MT]
30
66
#2 Singles Match
12
Lidia Burrows / 0 [MT]
04
66
#3 Singles Match
123
Zani Barnard / 0 [MT]
640
06UF
#4 Singles Match
123
Luisa Zirilli / 0 [MT]
420
63UF
#5 Singles Match
12
Marta Peris Herrero / 0 [MT]
02
66
#6 Singles Match
123
Lee Barnard / 0 [MT]
410
63UF
Order of Finish:
5,1,2
Players Mentioned
2024 Night of the Owl End of Year Recap
Thursday, April 25
2023 Rice Tennis Facilities
Wednesday, September 13
Tommy McClelland Introductory Press Conference
Sunday, August 06
2023 Night of The Owl End of Year Highlight
Tuesday, April 25