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The Rice Thresher
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by ERIC RAUB THRESHER STAFF
Rice, which finally re-entered the national rankings at No. 57, dropped a 7-2 decision to 24th-ranked Texas Christian University April 24. But the Owls rebounded against the University of North Texas and the University of California at Santa Barbara on Saturday, shutting out both teams. Rice's two seniors got the match against the Horned Frogs off to a great start by wreaking havoc at the top of the singles lineup. Elle Lewis upset 50th-ranked Lucie Dvorakova 7-5, 6-3 at the No. 1 spot and Charlotte Feasby took down 64th-ranked Dorrit Huppes 6-1, 6-3 at the No. 2 spot. But things went downhill from there. The Owls, who seemed to remember what was supposed to happen against the favored Horned Frogs, did not win another match. "They're going to be one of the toughest teams in our conference," junior Erin Waters said. "I believe we gave them too much credit as a team. Next time we can go in with a more realistic view and we can beat them." Saturday was a different story for the Owls, who buried North Texas 9-0 and UCSB 6-0. Rice was clearly the vastly superior team in both matches, but the Owls insist the matches were no turkey shoot. "Those teams were not as strong," head coach Paul Blankenship said. "But Santa Barbara had made an appearance in the rankings - down at the bottom - a couple of weeks into the season. They weren't a bad team." With the regular season now complete, Rice will shift gears to focus on its biggest challenge yet, the Western Athletic Conference tournament. Fortunately, the Owls will have had roughly two weeks of rest and preparation for the event that may define their season. "We're going to go easy on them this week," Blankenship said. "We're giving them Friday, Saturday and Sunday off. Right now, the important thing is rest." At the same time, Blankenship said he doesn't want the team to lose focus on the task at hand. "We are asking them to hit on their own over the weekend," Blankenship said. "But we're really going to gear up on Monday and Tuesday. The main thing is just to keep to keep them sharp." The time off will also help the Owls recover from a season's worth of aches and pains. While Feasby appears fully recovered from the knee injury that kept her out of action for a month, Waters suffered a minor injury against North Texas. "Erin has an Achilles' tendon problem," Blankenship said. "We took her out of the game against North Texas. We could see she was hurting. I hope this break is a real bonus for her." Meanwhile, the rest of the team - especially the two seniors - seems to be playing as well as it has all year. "The rest of our kids are pretty good," Blankenship said. "Charlotte's playing well [and] Elle's feeling good and ending her career on a real high note." The WAC tournament, which will be played April 28-30 in Fort Worth, falls between the end of classes and the beginning of finals, making things just a little more challenging for the Owls. "It's going to be rough," Blankenship said. "It always is this time of year. They've been really busy." - back - |
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