
Season Opens Early as Owls Host Cardinals on Thursday
1/18/2023 9:18:00 PM | Women's Tennis
Match moved up from Saturday
In Brief: Elizabeth Schmidt's Rice Owls get an early than planned start to the 2023 season when they host Lamar at the George R. Brown Tennis Center at 2 p.m. on Thursday. The match was moved up from its original Saturday slot due to expected rains in Houston.
Live Stats: Live video and score updates are available for all Rice home matches at https://riceowls.co/TennisLive23
The Owls: Rice finished the 2022 season with a 15-8 and ended the year ranked 54th in the final ITA rankings. Seniors Diae El Jardi and Maria Budin became the Owls first NCAA Doubles qualifiers since 2016 and ended the year ranked 30th, the highest ranking for a Rice duo since Natalie Beazant and Dominique Harmath were ranked 27th in 2013. The five returners were joined in the fall by freshmen Marte Lambrecht and Darya Schwartzman and in January by grad transfer Sydney Berlin who joins the Owls after four seasons of competing in the SEC at Florida.
Lamar: The Cardinals ended last season 10-11, including a 1-4 mark in WAC play before returning the Southland Conference this year. Rice leads the all-time series 29-1 and has won the last 28 matches.
Hefty Road Schedule: Thursday's opener is the first of 14 home matches for the Owls, highlighted by a pair of teams ranked in the top five in the country in ITA's preseason poll. Fifth-ranked Texas A&M will face the Owls at GRBTC on February 4 while top-ranked Texas comes to Houston on March 4.
Live Stats: Live video and score updates are available for all Rice home matches at https://riceowls.co/TennisLive23
The Owls: Rice finished the 2022 season with a 15-8 and ended the year ranked 54th in the final ITA rankings. Seniors Diae El Jardi and Maria Budin became the Owls first NCAA Doubles qualifiers since 2016 and ended the year ranked 30th, the highest ranking for a Rice duo since Natalie Beazant and Dominique Harmath were ranked 27th in 2013. The five returners were joined in the fall by freshmen Marte Lambrecht and Darya Schwartzman and in January by grad transfer Sydney Berlin who joins the Owls after four seasons of competing in the SEC at Florida.
Lamar: The Cardinals ended last season 10-11, including a 1-4 mark in WAC play before returning the Southland Conference this year. Rice leads the all-time series 29-1 and has won the last 28 matches.
Hefty Road Schedule: Thursday's opener is the first of 14 home matches for the Owls, highlighted by a pair of teams ranked in the top five in the country in ITA's preseason poll. Fifth-ranked Texas A&M will face the Owls at GRBTC on February 4 while top-ranked Texas comes to Houston on March 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