Sunday, April 2
Houston, Texas
10 AM
Rice University
4
vs
2
#36 FIU
Tiebreakers Key Owls Past No. 36 FIU
4/2/2023 4:06:00 PM | Women's Tennis
SIx wins in six opportunities
Houston: Rice rode a dominant effort in tiebreakers to hand 36th-ranked FIU its first loss in its last 11 matches as the 48th-ranked Owls took a 4-2 decision on Sunday afternoon.
Doubles: For the second time in the last three matches, the Owls snapped an opponent's lengthy winning streak in doubles. One week ago, they ended Brown's perfect record in doubles in 2023 and on Sunday, Saara Orav and Darya Schwartzman clinched the point with a 7-3 tiebreak win at the third line, the first of six tiebreak wins in as many opportunities for the Owls in the match.
Singles: The Panthers roared back at the start of singles, taking four of six first sets while losing a total of 12 games and sending the other two to tiebreakers. Federica Trevisan (11-9) and Saara Orav (7-2) held firm for Rice to take their first sets, setting the tone for the Owls' path to victory. The Panthers were able to close out a pair of matches in straight sets to move ahead 2-1, but Budin and Diae El Jardi forced third sets (El Jardi in a 7-5 tiebreaker) and Trevisan closed out her match in straight sets to even the score 2-2. Orav added the third point for Rice with a second 7-2 tiebreaker, setting the stage for Budin. Down 3-4 in the third, she rallied to send the match to the sixth tiebreaker of the afternoon, then took control early to win 7-3 and five the Owls' their second win over a top 40 opponent in the last two weeks.
Elizabeth Schmidt: "Just really proud of the overall effort of our team today and the way they can back out today after the tough loss on Friday to USF. We set the tone early with getting that doubles point and then it was great to see the grit, toughness, and quality play to win all those tiebreakers."
Up Next: The Owls will close out a stretch of five consecutive matches against ranked teams when they host SMU (#56 in the latest rankings) next Saturday at 11 a.m. as part of a combined dual with the Rice men, who will host #41 UTSA.
Doubles: For the second time in the last three matches, the Owls snapped an opponent's lengthy winning streak in doubles. One week ago, they ended Brown's perfect record in doubles in 2023 and on Sunday, Saara Orav and Darya Schwartzman clinched the point with a 7-3 tiebreak win at the third line, the first of six tiebreak wins in as many opportunities for the Owls in the match.
Singles: The Panthers roared back at the start of singles, taking four of six first sets while losing a total of 12 games and sending the other two to tiebreakers. Federica Trevisan (11-9) and Saara Orav (7-2) held firm for Rice to take their first sets, setting the tone for the Owls' path to victory. The Panthers were able to close out a pair of matches in straight sets to move ahead 2-1, but Budin and Diae El Jardi forced third sets (El Jardi in a 7-5 tiebreaker) and Trevisan closed out her match in straight sets to even the score 2-2. Orav added the third point for Rice with a second 7-2 tiebreaker, setting the stage for Budin. Down 3-4 in the third, she rallied to send the match to the sixth tiebreaker of the afternoon, then took control early to win 7-3 and five the Owls' their second win over a top 40 opponent in the last two weeks.
Elizabeth Schmidt: "Just really proud of the overall effort of our team today and the way they can back out today after the tough loss on Friday to USF. We set the tone early with getting that doubles point and then it was great to see the grit, toughness, and quality play to win all those tiebreakers."
Up Next: The Owls will close out a stretch of five consecutive matches against ranked teams when they host SMU (#56 in the latest rankings) next Saturday at 11 a.m. as part of a combined dual with the Rice men, who will host #41 UTSA.
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
2,1,3
#1 Singles Match
12
Yasmine Kabbaj / 0 [FIU]
66
31
#2 Singles Match
12
E. Khairutdinova / 0 [FIU]
64
76
#3 Singles Match
1234
Oyinlomo Quadre / 0 [FIU]
6650
275UF
#4 Singles Match
12
Kamila Umarova / 0 [FIU]
66
11
#5 Singles Match
123
Katerina Mandelikova / 0 [FIU]
646
367
#6 Singles Match
12
Salma Loudili / 0 [FIU]
66
77
Order of Finish:
4,1,2,6,5
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
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