Saturday, April 24
Denton, TX
Noon
Rice University
2
vs
4
FIU
Owls Fall in C-USA Semis
4/24/2021 4:17:00 PM | Women's Tennis
FIU 4, Rice 2
Denton, TX: The Rice women's tennis team saw their hopes to add a seventh Conference USA title in the last eight years fall short in the semifinals as FIU staked out an early advantage and then held off a serious of challenges by the Owls to win and advance to face ODU for the title on Sunday.
Doubles: Just as they had done when the teams met in early April in Miami, the Panthers took the early lead by grabbing the doubles point. Michaela Haet and Federica Trevisan picked up an early win at the second line. FIU followed with a late break to take the match on three and then closed it out with a win at the first line.
Singles: In need of four singles wins to stay alive in the tournament, the Owls found themselves in need of multiple three set wins as FIU took four of six first sets. But the Owls surged second sets, forcing two matches to third sets. Trevisan evened the score at 1-1 with a straight set win at the third line, improving to 14-3 on the season. FIU responded with wins at the second and fourth lines before Maria Budin capped off a comeback from a first set loss to cut the lead to 3-2 with her 11th win. FIU recaptured the momentum for a final push, clinching the match with a second set tiebreak win at the first line to improve to 12-0 on the season.
Notable:
Doubles: Just as they had done when the teams met in early April in Miami, the Panthers took the early lead by grabbing the doubles point. Michaela Haet and Federica Trevisan picked up an early win at the second line. FIU followed with a late break to take the match on three and then closed it out with a win at the first line.
Singles: In need of four singles wins to stay alive in the tournament, the Owls found themselves in need of multiple three set wins as FIU took four of six first sets. But the Owls surged second sets, forcing two matches to third sets. Trevisan evened the score at 1-1 with a straight set win at the third line, improving to 14-3 on the season. FIU responded with wins at the second and fourth lines before Maria Budin capped off a comeback from a first set loss to cut the lead to 3-2 with her 11th win. FIU recaptured the momentum for a final push, clinching the match with a second set tiebreak win at the first line to improve to 12-0 on the season.
Notable:
- The Owls saw their streak of eight consecutive championship matches with the loss. Their streak matched Tulsa (2007-14) for the longest streak in conference history.
- The matchup between top seed ODU and #3 FIU will mark the first time since 2010 that the top two seeds have not met to decide the C-USA title.
- Rice fell to 34-8 in Conference USA tournament play.
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
2,3,1
#1 Singles Match
12
Kamila Umarova / 0 [FIU]
77
56
#2 Singles Match
12
Marina Alcaide / 0 (107/-) [FIU]
76
50
#3 Singles Match
12
Basak Akbas / 0 [FIU]
43
66
#4 Singles Match
123
Andjela Skrobonja / 0 [FIU]
616
362
#5 Singles Match
1234
Andreea Velcea / 0 [FIU]
4720
653UF
#6 Singles Match
123
Kristina Miletic / 0 [FIU]
630
466
Order of Finish:
3,2,4,6,1
Players Mentioned
WBB: Rice vs. Marshall Postgame Presser
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VB: Rice-Texas Postgame Presser
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VB: Rice-San Diego Postgame Presser
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