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The Rice Thresher
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Owls impress against San Jose State, struggle against San Diego State by Eric Raub thresher staff The women's tennis team received both good and bad news when it opened the dual match season in California last weekend. The good news was that the Owls proved they have talent in a win over San Jose State University Saturday. The bad news was that they have much room for growth, as evidenced by Sunday's loss to San Diego State University. Rice captured six out of seven points against the Spartans. Senior Erin Waters led the charge and defeated San Jose State's top player, Caroline Stenman, 6-1, 6-1. The Owls' lone loss was a close match in which the Spartans' Helen Van defeated junior Natalie Briaud 6-3, 7-6 (7-4). "San Jose was a good win because it was a conference match," head coach Paul Blankenship said. "Even though we don't have a regular schedule where we play conference teams, it's always good to beat people in your conference for a better spot in the tournament." San Diego State was a different story, however. The Aztecs shut the Owls out 7-0. Sophomore Jeri Gonzales and freshman Yasmin Fisher captured a doubles win against the Aztecs' 22nd-ranked doubles team of Whitney Wells and Katja Karrento, but San Diego State won the other two doubles matches to earn the doubles point. "Our kids played really well," Blankenship said. "[The Aztecs] were really competitive. They are really a hard-hitting team pace-wise. They're really heavy hitters and I think we did a good job staying with them." The Owls hope to be able to challenge stronger teams by April, but the loss to San Diego State shows how far they have to go. "This is a team that's going to grow and get better during the year," Blankenship said. "The main thing for us is to stay healthy. Our goal is to finish in the top 60 in the country, but a lot of our goals are process-oriented with our younger team." Rice is currently ranked No. 63, but the Owls need to be more aggressive in order to improve. The better teams on their schedule - like No. 29 Texas Christian University, No. 34 University of Arkansas and No. 47 Tulane University - have players who attack the ball and use every inch of the court. "One of our goals is to stay up in the court and catch the ball early," Blankenship said. "We need to get a little more aggressive and offensive. We need to try to be proactive and dictate more rather than be reactive." The Owls are already having success attacking in doubles matches and the team hopes strong, aggressive doubles play will spill over into the singles matches. "The doubles teams are really talented," Gonzales said. "We have people who can play at the net in doubles." The Owls' other major assets are depth and enthusiasm. An infusion of talented freshmen has given them a cushion in case of injury or other unforeseen circumstances. "We have quite a lot of depth throughout the lineup, even past the top six, which is really good in case someone gets injured," Waters said. "We can move someone up and still do well. All the freshmen have lots of potential. People have a lot of intensity and focus, which is good." The depth has left the Owls without a firm lineup. Waters will most likely remain the team leader in singles, followed by sophomore Judith Hagedorn, Gonzales and Briaud. Freshmen Annie Goodrich and Fisher should round out the six singles spots, but other players could be moved up. The Owls are still deciding who will team up in doubles play and at what spots they will play. "This year, since we have so many good combinations, we are still trying to figure out who to play," Gonzales said. "Last year, teams were allowed to tough out the difficulties they had, but this year we have too many good people to do that." The Owls will have the opportunity to try out their combinations on Saturday against 50th-ranked University of Central Florida. Sunday, the Owls host Southwest Texas State University and the University of Texas at Arlington in a doubleheader.
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