Women’s tennis succeeds in California
It is hard to imagine that a group of Rice students traveled to beautiful southern California last weekend with no intention of relaxing at the beach. But that is exactly what the women’s tennis team did, going to work at the San Diego State Fall Classic.
The Owls will take this weekend off to get ready for the competitive Midland Racquet Club Invitational, which starts next Friday in Midland, Texas. While Midland will probably not be quite as beautiful as San Diego, the Owls will go in with more experience than they had before last week’s Invite.
On the first day of competition in San Diego, senior Tiffany Lee rolled over her opponents in the Flight 2 Singles. Lee easily downed the University of San Diego’s Justine Perl 6-0, 6-3, and then completed her day with a 6-1, 2-6, 1-0 (10-3) victory over Ozge Atalay from San Diego State University.
Also in the Flight 2 Singles, freshman Varsha Shiva-Shankar displayed a smooth mastery of Raine Mitchell of Pepperdine University, winning 6-3, 6-0. She beat her next opponent, San Diego’s Ellie Faulkner, almost as easily, taking the match 6-0, 7-6 (3).
Sophomore Rebecca Lin, junior Dominique Karas and senior Christine Dao each lost in the first round of Flight 1 Singles play.
The Owls struggled in doubles, losing two of three matches on Friday. Playing together for the first time, Shiva-Shankar and Karas fell in a tight 8-6 bout. Fortunately, Lee and Lin paired to breeze through an 8-3 win.
The next day, Lee continued her momentum, beating San Diego State’s Olivia Colman 6-4, 7-6 (4) in the Flight 2 Singles semifinals. Jill Braverman of Pepperdine dispatched Shiva-Shankar in the other semifinal 6-3, 7-5.
Dao and Karas bounced back from their opening-round losses with consolation victories in the first flight. Dao set down Milou Teeling of San Diego 7-6 (2), 6-0. while Karas eliminated the University of Arizona’s Camelia Todorova 6-0, 6-7 (3) , 6-2. However, Lin could not hang on against Milana Yusupov of San Diego State, falling 6-1, 6-2.
To cap off Saturday’s doubles competition, Karas and Shiva-Shankar came out firing, winning 8-0 and 8-5 against the competition. The duo of Lin and Lee were not as successful, losing 8-4.
But Lee was not finished in singles. In the Flight 2 Singles final, Lee squared off with Braverman. Lee gutted out a first set tiebreak win before grabbing the close second set, winning 7-6 (5), 7-5, to take the title.
“I just knew going into this tournament that it was going to be tough,” Lee said. “I knew I had to be more consistent than [Braverman] because I knew that if I just stuck with my game that she would eventually just break down. Last week was a confidence booster to know that I still have the competitiveness to win matches.”
Head coach Roger White said he could see a significant boost in Lee’s play last weekend.
“Tiffany beared down and got some key matches,” White said. “She works hard and deserved those wins. All weekend, Tiffany was doing a much better job of being aggressive while still being patient.”
In the singles consolation matches, Dao won 6-2, 6-0 over San Diego State’s Darby McGill and Karas wiped out Atalay with a 6-0, 6-0 display of dominance, although Shiva-Shankar could not muster the win in her match.
The same could be said for doubles, as Rice lost all three doubles matches on Sunday.
With the rest of the team in San Diego, sophomore Julie Chao competed in the Riviera/ITA All-American Pre-Qualifying Tournament in Los Angeles, Calif. On Saturday, Chao took Sarah Woestmann of the University of Kentucky to three sets before taking the match 6-1, 4-6, 6-2. In her next match, Chao had an easier time against Duke University’s Jessi Robinson, winning 6-4, 6-4.
On Sunday, Chao needed one last victory to continue her impressive run to the All-Americans. Unfortunately, that victory would not come, as Chao was knocked off by Georgia Tech University’s Maya Johansson 6-1, 6-3.
Even though she did not make it to the All-Americans, Chao received the Conference USA Women’s Tennis Player of the Month award for September last Tuesday.
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