Rice University
Florida International
No. 43 Women's Tennis Claims Fifth Ranked Win, Takes Down No. 54 FIU, 4-3
4/5/2025 6:59:00 PM | Women's Tennis
TAMPA, Fla. — The 43rd-ranked Rice Owls women's tennis team claimed a huge 4-3 victory over the 54th-ranked Florida International Panthers on Saturday afternoon from the USF Varsity Tennis Courts in Tampa, Florida. Rice improves to 14-5 on the year and earns its fifth ranked victory of the season, while FIU falls to 11-3 and sees its nine-match win streak snapped.
Florida International's duo at the first court took the first doubles match, 6-0, to earn the first court of the doubles portion, but the Rice duo of Darya Schwartzman and Nithesa Selvaraj responded on court two with a 6-0 win of their own to even up the score, each side needing the third court to win doubles. Divna Ratkovic and Anushka Ashar needed the tiebreaker, but took down their opponents by a score of 7-6 (4), to claim the doubles point for Rice.
It would not take long for the Panthers to even the score with a 6-1, 6-1, victory on the third line, knotting the score at 1-1. FIU would then take a 2-1 lead after earning a 6-2, 6-3, victory at the first court. Allison Zipoli would tie the match at two-all with a 6-2, 6-0, victory at the fifth line, but FIU would take a 3-2 lead with a 6-3, 6-1, win at the fourth line.
Rice would need both of the final two courts to win. Starting with Ratkovic at the second line, she earned a 6-1, 6-3, victory to tie the match up, taking down the 90th-ranked singles player in the land and leaving Saara Orav to clinch the match at the sixth line. Orav took down her opponent, 6-3, 6-2, to clinch Rice's fifth ranked victory of the year and the Owls' ninth victory in the last 10 matches.
Rice will return home for the final two matches of the season, taking on 49th-ranked Wichita State on Tuesday morning before wrapping up the regular season with Middle Tennessee on Saturday morning.
RESULTS
DOUBLES
E. Khairutdinova/O. Quadre (FIU) def. S. Orav/F. Maguina (RICE), 6-0
D. Schwartzman/N. Selvaraj (RICE) def. K. Mandelikova/A. Draskovic (FIU), 6-0
D. Ratkovic/A. Ashar (RICE) def. V. Gynina/D. Baidaulet (FIU), 7-6 (4)
Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3
SINGLES
#93 E. Khairutdinova (FIU) def. D. Schwartzman (RICE), 6-2, 6-3
D. Ratkovic (RICE) def. #90 O. Quadre (FIU), 6-1, 6-3
V. Gynina (FIU) def. F. Maguina (RICE), 6-1, 6-1
K. Mandelikova (FIU) def. N. Selvaraj (RICE), 6-3, 6-1
A. Zipoli (RICE) def. D. Baidaulet (FIU), 6-2, 6-0
S. Orav (RICE) def. A. Simeva (FIU), 6-3, 6-2
Order of Finish: 3, 1, 5, 4, 2, 6
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
1,2,3
#1 Singles Match
#2 Singles Match
#3 Singles Match
#4 Singles Match
#5 Singles Match
#6 Singles Match
Order of Finish:
3,1,5,2,4,6
Players Mentioned
