Top-seeded Texas squeaks past women

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by Alex Chapman

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The Rice women's tennis team had one of the biggest upsets of 1996 within their grasp, but fell just short of defeating the University of Texas Longhorns in the semifinals of the Southwest Conference Women's Tennis Championships.

The Owls split the singles matches with the Longhorns to enter the doubles play with a score of 3-3. But Texas won two doubles matches to gain the five points necessary for a match-ending victory.

Paula Myslivicek, named to the All-SWC team, defeated Cristina Moros in a hardfought battle in the first seed, 7-5, 6-4.

Jennifer Velasco won her 11th straight match in the third position, winning by an impressive margin of 6-0, 6-1.

Picking up Rice's third singles point was Vessie Ivanova, who won 6-3, 6-2 in the fourth position.

Head Coach Paul Blankenship said , "I think we came out early and played to win. We played with a lot of confidence and got some wins.... The opportunity was there, but my hat goes off to them."

UT player Farley Taylor felt that Rice played hard. "[Rice] fought for every point. I don't think we expected them to come out and play that aggresive."

UT is a traditional women's tennis juggernaut. In addition to their top-10 ranking nationally, they entered the tournament as the top-ranked team in the conference, winners of 42 straight SWC matches.

This was the first time Rice had scored points in a SWC match against the Longhorns since 1992.

The match against the University of Houston in the quarterfinals went more smoothly for the Owls than the semifinals. UH ends its SWC membership having never won a conference tournament match.The tournament began in 1988.

Myslivicek's match was not necessary as the fourth-seeded Owls won all five completed matches over the fifth-seeded Cougars, sweeping the second through the sixth seeds.

In the regular season on April 9, the Cougars beat the Owls 5-4 at UH.

"Two weeks ago we weren't quite as sharp or focused. But, most importantly, two weeks ago, they came out and earned the win over us. Today, we were focused, intense, and had a mission," Blankenship said.

This item appeared in the Sports section of the April 26, 1996 issue.

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