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The Rice Thresher
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by Eric Raub thresher staff
At this weekend's Western Athletic Conference Championships, Rice may get another shot at knocking off a top team - three of the nation's top 25 teams will be there. But what may be the most important match of the season takes place today, and it's not against a top-25 team. The Owls' quarterfinal opponent is the University of Tulsa, which is ranked 47th and ousted Rice from last year's tournament. A win against Tulsa would virtually guarantee Rice a spot in the NCAA tournament. A loss would leave them at the mercy of a selection committee that may have trouble extending an invitation to a team that couldn't win the first round of its conference tournament. "If there's ever a pressure match, that's it," freshman Richard Barker said. "Tulsa's the biggest match by far because of all that's riding on it." The fourth-seeded Owls say that fifth-seeded Tulsa is no lowly underdog, and that looking ahead to a potential matchup with top seed Texas Christian University is a recipe for disaster. "Our immediate goal is to beat Tulsa," head coach Ron Smarr said. "They're still a really good team and good enough to kick us. We're not worried about the next one. We can't look past them." The 36th-ranked Owls have good reason to be wary of Tulsa. The Golden Hurricane enter the WAC tournament on a four-match losing streak, but Tulsa owns wins over No. 16 University of Washington and No. 32 University of North Carolina. The Golden Hurricane also has a history of beating the Owls. Tulsa handed the Owls a 4-3 first-round loss in last year's tournament and is 4-1 lifetime against Rice. However, the Owls feel things will be different this year. "I think we have a much stronger team," sophomore Cody Jackson said. "They're definitely a team we can beat. Last year we were playing Tulsa and three of the singles matches were decided in three sets and we lost them. This year we have the strength to win those three-setters." The Owls enter the tournament off a split last weekend, when 8th-ranked Southern Methodist University blanked Rice 4-0 before the Owls rebounded to beat Abilene Christian University later in the afternoon to finish the season 20-6. "SMU may be the best team we played the whole year," Smarr said. "They're a very, very strong team. They're 19-1 and they've beaten a lot of good teams." The Owls feel they have a chance to win the conference, but it will take three very solid performances. "The great thing about our conference is there are no easy matches," assistant coach Shaheen Ladhani said. "It's going to be a tough one, especially after the grind of the last couple of weeks. I'm not saying we can't win the tournament, but we have to take it one match at a time."
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