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The Rice Thresher
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by Eric Raub thresher staff
The Owls, ranked 62nd in the nation, found out they were not as closely matched with 50th-ranked Central Florida as their similar rankings might have implied. The Golden Knights swept the doubles matches and held Rice to only one singles win Saturday. "We thought they'd be pretty good," assistant coach Roger White said. "But they were much stronger than we had anticipated. We played well and we played tough, but they just outplayed us. They're ranked 50th but they should be in the top 30 at the end of the season." In her match against the Golden Knights, senior Erin Waters battled hard at the No. 1 spot before finally falling to Ann-Jeanette Svantesson 2-6, 7-5, 7-6. No other singles loss went to three sets. "We were not fully prepared for a battle," junior Natalie Briaud said. "We came out there without any expectations and without any real determination. They were also just really tough players." The Owls had an easier time on Sunday against Southwest Texas State. Rice easily won all three doubles matches, and the Owls' lone loss came at the No. 4 spot when freshman Annie Goodrich defaulted due to illness. "They were a little bit weaker team," Briaud said. "But they did an excellent job of preparing us for our next match. It got you a little warmed up and got you ready." Later in the afternoon, the Owls faced a bigger challenge against UTA. Despite losing the top two doubles matches 8-6, the Owls came back to win five out of six singles matches and left with a 5-2 victory. "It was kind of an exciting match," White said. "We lost the doubles point but we were really close. We played really well in the singles." After Waters fell at the top spot and the Owls won at the two, three and four positions, it was up to two Owl freshmen to decide the outcome of the match. Chao and fellow freshman Yasmin Fisher came back from first-set losses to win their respective matches in the third set. "They [Chao and Fisher] wanted it as badly as the whole team did," Briaud said. " After they lost the first set, they hung in there and kept plugging away. They [UTA] are a team that is known for being very consistent and grinding it out, and to beat them like that, by grinding it out, is just awesome." The Owls now stand at 3-1 in dual match play, but they have yet to beat a higher-ranked opponent. "We're really growing by leaps and bounds," White said. "For each round we're getting better and better and that is how we're going to get it done. Each match represents a learning curve and we're getting better and better."
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