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The Rice Thresher
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by Eric Raub thresher staff
The Owls smashed Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi and Abilene Christian University Saturday by 7-0 scores to finish the regular season 10-10. The wins ended a four-match losing streak for Rice, and the Owls say they've peaked at the right time. "I think this is the first time our whole team really played well at the same time," senior Erin Waters said. "Some people have played well, but it's never really come together at one time. This is the first time everyone played smart and played hard." They'll need a repeat performance or better if they want to have a chance of beating Texas Christian University today in the quarterfinals of the Western Athletic Conference tournament. TCU is seeded second, ranked 25th nationally, has won its last 14 matches and defeated Rice 6-1 March 31. Still, the seventh-seeded Owls aren't ruling out the possibility of an upset win. "No matter what the score was, the matches were pretty close," assistant coach Roger White said. "Erin played her match to three sets and [freshman] Annie Goodrich wasn't in the lineup. We could get the doubles point and then a couple more singles matches. I think we have a pretty competitive chance." The Owls also say they have shown signs of growth over the last month, and they're anxious for another shot at the Horned Frogs. "We're looking forward to the chance to compete," White said. "We've been getting better and better over the last month and we're looking forward to seeing how much we've grown." One of the matches the Owls can point to as evidence of their improvement is a tight 4-3 loss to No. 44 Southern Methodist University April 6, when the Owls were just one match short of an upset against a team they see as comparable to TCU. "TCU is a very similar team to SMU," Waters said. "I think if we play TCU the same way we played SMU, internalize the matches, then we'll have a pretty competitive chance." The two shutouts over last weekend may not have come against opponents of TCU or SMU's caliber, but the members of the team said they were still quality wins. "I think we played well over the weekend," White said. "We were really pleased with the performance. Those teams have really good players and we were happy with the way the girls played. I think it gives the girls confidence. All you want to do is walk in with a sense of optimism and hopes for what could happen." A change in this year's edition of the WAC tournament is that there is no back draw. If the Owls lose to TCU, there won't be any time to hang around in Fresno. "It'll be a lot of fun and I want to be there for a while," Goodrich said. "It would be nice to stay and move through the draw if we could pull out the matches."
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