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April 21, 2006 > Sports > Women’s tennis carries two wins into tournament

Women’s tennis carries two wins into tournament

By Adriene Giese | Thresher staff

Following the example the men’s team set a week ago against Texas, the women’s tennis team turned in resounding victories on senior day last Friday, beating both Abilene Christian University and the University of Texas-San Antonio at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium. Led by 60th-ranked senior Blair DiSesa, the Owls did not give up a single match, outscoring their opponents 14-0 and improving the team’s record to 9-12 on the year.

This weekend, Rice will compete at the Conference USA tournament, held through Sunday in Dallas. The Owls, who hold the seventh seed in the tournament, faced tenth-seeded Southern Mississippi in a late afternoon match yesterday. The winner faces second-seeded and 55th-ranked Marshall University at 2 p.m. today.

The only two conference teams Rice has faced this season are 51st-ranked Southern Methodist University and unranked University of Tulsa. SMU defeated the Owls 4-3 March 24, but Rice bounced back the next day for a 4-3 victory against the Golden Hurricane.

As a part of the Western Athletic Conference last year, Rice advanced to a conference championship match for the first time in school history but fell to Fresno State 4-0. However, head coach Roger White said this year’s Owls’ tough non-conference schedule — they faced nine top-50 teams and five in the top 20 — should give them an edge.

“I think that we are the most prepared team in the conference,” White said. “The team has worked harder, they have played against tougher opponents and they work outside on their own. They are committed to the idea of maximizing their potential in practice, and I think that it will really show in the tournament.”

On Friday, the Owls began both senior day matches with sweeps of the doubles points. Against ACU, DiSesa and senior Medeja Egic jump-started the team by beating the Wildcats’ Holly Lindhoff and Lana Pavlin at No. 1, and sophomores Christine Dao and Tiffany Lee took a commanding 8-1 victory at No. 3 to secure the doubles point.

The second dual match was even more lopsided than the first. DiSesa and Egic defeated UTSA’s Tanya Hasking and Barbara Mooney 8-0 at the top spot, freshman Alanna Rodgers and sophomore Kimberly Patenaude won 8-6 at No. 2, and Dao and Lee again defeated their opponents 8-1 at No. 3.

At No. 1 singles, DiSesa defeated both of her opponents in straight sets to improve her record to 89-60 and move into fifth place on Rice’s career win list. She needs only six more wins to move into fourth place, behind a trio of All-Americans — Wendy Wood (Will Rice ‘86), Tracie Blumentritt (Hanszen ‘83), and Susan Rudd (Hanszen ‘84) — who have more than 100 victories each. For her wins, DiSesa earned C-USA Player of the Week.

Egic dominated her singles matches as well. At No. 4, she defeated ACU’s Pavlin 6-1, 6-2 and the Roadrunners’ Hasking 6-1, 6-0.

Against ACU, Dao and Lee both won their matches in straight sets at the No. 2 and No. 3 spots, respectively. Rodgers and freshman Emily Braid rounded out the Owls’ scoring with wins at five and six.

DiSesa said the match victory provided the team with valuable motivation.

“I was so proud of everyone because the energy and intensity was probably as high as I’ve seen all year,” said DiSesa, “I think we are all pumped up for the tournament and our momentum from this past weekend can only help us.”

Against UTSA the story was much the same. Again, Dao and Lee won their matches at the two and three spots, and Rodgers provided a win at No. 5. Senior Amy Cao won her final match at home — a straight set victory at No. 6.

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