Women suffer consecutive close losses in Oklahoma
The women’s tennis team nearly pulled off a pair of upsets last weekend against over 45th-ranked Oklahoma State University and Conference USA rival 53rd-ranked University of Tulsa in Tulsa, Okla.. 64th-ranked Rice couldn’t overcome early deficits and lost both tight matches 4-3, bringing the team’s season dual-match record to 2-3.
The Owls will host 62nd-ranked Florida State University at 3 p.m. on Friday and Auburn University at 1 p.m. Sunday at Jake Hess Stadium. Even though the Tigers are unranked, head coach Roger White said both matches will be challenging.
“[Auburn] would be what I call a classic mercenary team,” he said. “They tend to bring in very good players for a year or two who don’t do very well academically, so it’s pretty hard to predict what they will have.”
Last year’s match against the Golden Hurricane ended contentiously, with Tulsa’s Daniela Muscolino directing a profanity-laced rant at the umpire following her loss to Rice’s Blair DiSesa (Will Rice ‘06). The umpire, as required by NCAA regulations, awarded a penalty point to Rice in the next available match, which just so happened to be match point in the deciding sixth match.
The Owls dug themselves an early 3-0 hole against the Golden Hurricane, which the Owls had beaten the past two years. Rice nearly took a hard-fought doubles point to start the competition, but fell just short in the deciding third match when sophomore Emily Braid and junior Christine Dao dropped a tough 8-6 match against Tulsa’s Thalia Diaz-Barriga and Jie Zeng.
The Owls fared better in singles play, splitting matches 3-3 with Tulsa, but that left them a match short of a win. The deciding match came at No. 3: Tulsa’s Santie Delport was able to hold off junior Tiffany Lee, winning 6-2, 3-6, 7-5. Freshmen Julie Chao and Rebecca Lin and sophomore Dominique Karas provided Rice’s three victories.
“Tulsa came after us in doubles, which ultimately made the decision,” White said. “They were not only fired up because we beat them two years in a row, but also the way that we beat them last year.”
Following the loss to the Golden Hurricane, the Owls faced stiff play against the Cowgirls. Rice took an early lead by gaining the doubles point, which impressed White, who expected OSU to be a challenge.
“I think probably in terms of experience, we’re still a little bit behind in doubles,” White said. “[that] is why I was so pleased [we] were able to get doubles point against Oklahoma State.”
Unfortunately for Rice, the Cowgirls were able to accomplish what the Owls had failed to do against Tulsa
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