Saturday, April 16
Dallas, TX
2 PM
Rice University
3
at
4
#43 SMU
Owls Drop a Heartbreaker in Dallas
4/16/2022 8:06:00 PM | Women's Tennis
Focus shifts to Conference USA Championship
Dallas: Rice and SMU battled for nearly four hours before the 43rd ranked Mustangs edged the 55th ranked Owls 4-3 in a decisive tiebreaker.
Doubles: The featured showdown between Rice's 20th ranked team of Maria Budin and Diae El Jardi and the Mustangs 33rd ranked tandem of Jackie Nylander and Hadley Doyle turned into Budin and El Jardi's third win against teams in the top 35 as they finished first with a 6-3 win. After SMU countered with a win at the second line, Victoria Smirnova and Federica Trevisan gave the Owls the early lead with a 6-3 win at the third line.
Singles: The two old foes, who have battled countless times as rivals first in the Southwest Conference and later in Conference USA, waged a back-and-forth battle. While Rice seized some early momentum by taking four of six first sets, the Mustangs held their leads on the other two courts while forcing three others to third sets. Allison Zipolli tied the score 2-2 with a straight-set win at the fourth line, but SMU surged back in front with a win at the first line. Maria Budin then shook off a service break to tie her match 4-4 with a break of her own and then converted a deuce point to put the match even one last time at 3-3. But the Owls' hope for a win over a ranked opponent to send them to the Conference USA Championship fell short as SMU clinched the match with a tiebreaker win at the fifth lined.
Up Next: The Owls will travel to Murfreesboro, Tennessee later this week to open play in the Conference USA Championship.
Doubles: The featured showdown between Rice's 20th ranked team of Maria Budin and Diae El Jardi and the Mustangs 33rd ranked tandem of Jackie Nylander and Hadley Doyle turned into Budin and El Jardi's third win against teams in the top 35 as they finished first with a 6-3 win. After SMU countered with a win at the second line, Victoria Smirnova and Federica Trevisan gave the Owls the early lead with a 6-3 win at the third line.
Singles: The two old foes, who have battled countless times as rivals first in the Southwest Conference and later in Conference USA, waged a back-and-forth battle. While Rice seized some early momentum by taking four of six first sets, the Mustangs held their leads on the other two courts while forcing three others to third sets. Allison Zipolli tied the score 2-2 with a straight-set win at the fourth line, but SMU surged back in front with a win at the first line. Maria Budin then shook off a service break to tie her match 4-4 with a break of her own and then converted a deuce point to put the match even one last time at 3-3. But the Owls' hope for a win over a ranked opponent to send them to the Conference USA Championship fell short as SMU clinched the match with a tiebreaker win at the fifth lined.
Up Next: The Owls will travel to Murfreesboro, Tennessee later this week to open play in the Conference USA Championship.
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
1,2,3
#1 Singles Match
123
642
Lexi Keberle / 0 [SMU]
366
#2 Singles Match
12
35
Hadley Doyle / 0 [SMU]
67
#3 Singles Match
12
24
Jackie Nylander / 0 [SMU]
66
#4 Singles Match
12
67
Claudia Bartolome / 0 [SMU]
15
#5 Singles Match
123
746
Nicole Petchey / 0 [SMU]
567
#6 Singles Match
123
616
Drew Morris / 0 [SMU]
364
Order of Finish:
3,2,4,1,6,5
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
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