The Rice Thresher, Vol. 94, No. 18, Ed. 1 Friday, February 2, 2007 Page: 21 of 24
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THE RICE THRESHER SPORTS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2007
II
TAYLOR JOHNSON/THRESHER
Freshman Rebecca Lin returns a volley in last weekend's dual-match play, helping Rice crush both Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Texas State. The Owls swept all matches and improved to 2-1 on the
season. Rice travels to Tulsa, Okla. to face Tulsa University at 1:00 p.m. today and Oklahoma State University at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow.
by Casey Michel
THRKSHKR KOITOKIAI. NTAI-T
Rebounding from a tough show-
ing against Baylor two weekends
ago, the women's tennis team
dominated in-state rivals Texas
A&M-Corpus Christi and Texas
State in last weekend's dual match.
The 67th-ranked Owls throttled
TAMU-CC 7-0 on Friday and were
able to finish off Texas State with
the same score Saturday, bringing
Rice's record to 2-1.
The Owls travel to Tulsa, Okla.
next weekend to face Conference
USA rival Tulsa University on
Friday at 1:00 p.m. The Golden
Hurricane has already beaten two
top-60 teams this year, narrowly fin-
ishing off 59th-ranked Kansas and
edging past 47th-ranked Arkansas
last weekend. On Saturday, Rice will
square off with 45th-ranked Okla-
homa State, which leads their all-
time head-to-head series 7-1. Head
coach Roger White said his team is
prepared for these matches.
"Both teams we play will be really
tough," White said. "[But] I think we're
in a good place in terms of preparation
and readiness for next weekend."
Rice did not fare as well as they
had hoped against the second-
ranked Bears on Jan. 20, getting
blanked 7-0. However, while the
score may not have reflected it,
White said he saw more positives
than negatives in the loss.
"I was really, really pleased with
how the girls performed," White
said. "The scores aren't indica-
tive of how we played. The teams
[of doubles] hadn't played a lot
together, and we were in a lot of
matches even though the scores
were a bit lopsided. It's realistic
to say that this is a beatable team
later in the season if we continue to
prepare properly."
The Owls were able shake off
this loss when they faced TAMU-CC,
even though they started a bit slowly.
The Islanders came close to winning
a couple of the doubles matches, but
Rice was able to hold them off and
earn the doubles point. The Owls
proceeded to sweep all the singles
points, winning all but one of the six
matches in straight sets.
"We played a little conservative
for the first match at home, which
isn't unusual," White said. "We came
out a little slow, but we had a quicker
start on the second day, and I think
the girls did a great job of paying
attention to that."
Carrying the momentum from
their first victory of the year into
the next day, the Owls crushed
Texas State 7-0 in much the same
fashion that they won their first dual
match. Rice came out vigorously in
doubles, handily winning all three
matches. Five of the six singles
matches were decided in straight
sets, with junior Tiffany Lee coming
back to defeat the Bobcats'Rabea
Hartman 5-7, 7-5, 10-8.
"[Lee] faced a really tough Ger-
man girl [Hartman] in her match,"
White said. "And while she didn't
have all of her tools going for her,
she did a good job of managing the
tools she did have that day."
The coaching staff was pleased
with the team performance in these
matches but also acknowledged the
need to tinker with the roster.
"We were far more aggressive,
more free, more relaxed in these
matches," White said. "I think we're
really deep in terms of strength,
and in order to get better, it's just
about finding the right spot where
confidence meets toughness."
TAYLOR JOHNSON/THRESHER
Freshman Julie Chao prepares to smash a forehand In one of her dual-match wins last weekend. Chao won both of her
singles matches, as well as her two doubles matches, to help to Owls earn victories against TAMU-CC and Texas State.
SPORTS NOTEBOOK
,'f*
TAYLOR JOHNSON/THRESHER
Freshman Erin Mattson swims in the 1.000-yard freestyle on Jan. 11 against
New Mexico State. Rice would go on to beat NMSU 123.5-79.5
Swimming wins two
of three at LSU
Ixnl by junior Brittany Massen-
gale's two first place finishes, the
swim team redeemed a close Nov.
4 loss to the University of Houston
by defeating the Cougars 189-152
in a quadrangular meet hosted by
Louisiana State University in Baton
Rouge, Louis. Rice split itsothertwo
meets of the weekend, beating the
University of New Orleans 255-59
in one match-up but dropping the
other to the host Tigers 216-131.
With these results, the Owls
take a 10-6 record to the upcom-
ing C-USA Championship, which
will be held Feb. 14-17 at the UH
Natatorium. The competition
should be stiff, since Rice must
not only fend off Houston for a
second straight time, but also find
an answer for perennial power
Southern Methodist University
— the Mustangs rocked the Owls
in a 178-83 blowout in the second
meet of the year.
In Baton Rouge, Massengale
led a solid overall performance by
the distance swimmers, and she
won the C-USA Swimmer of the
Week award for the third time in
her career. She took her first vic-
tory— in the 1,000-yard freestyle
— with a 10 minute, 9.12 second
pace, leading sophomore team-
mate Caitlin Warner in a 1-2 Rice
finish Friday. Massengale and
Warner again led the pack in the
500-yard freestyle with times of
5:00.10 and 5:01.77, respectively,
but this time they were joined by
sophomore Carlyann Miller, who
finished third in 5:02.79. Miller
also won first in the 200-yard
freestyle in 1:51.86.
Freshman Erin Mattson's
four-meet winning streak came
to a close, as she fell narrowly be-
hind UH's Szintia Szanto to place
second in the 200-yard butterfly It
was the first time she had not won
at least one event since she took
sixth in the 200-yard butterfly at
the Indiana Invitational Nov. 17.
Rice's relay teams again pro-
vided solid support. Sophomores
Keri Hyde. Skylar Craig and Diane
(hi and freshman Pam Zelnick
scored a second-place finish in the
200-yard medley relay with a 1:48.80
finish, just under 4 seconds behind
LSU. In the 4(X Ward freestyle relay,
sophomore Craig, Zelnick, Gu and
Miller also took second with a time
of 3:31.77. The Owls also took 4th
in the 400-yard medley relay.
—Taylor Johnson
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Brown, David. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 94, No. 18, Ed. 1 Friday, February 2, 2007, newspaper, February 2, 2007; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443111/m1/21/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.