the Rice Thresher

Issue date: 5/15/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: David Rosales Senior Julie Chao contributed a 6-1, 6-1 victory against Southern Miss in the first round of the C-USA Tournament. Despite falling in the second round of the tournament, Chao was named a coaches' selection to the All-Conference USA Women's Tennis Team.

In a season that was consistently middling, it makes sense that the women's tennis team was bounced from the Conference USA Tournament in the middle of competition. Despite home court advantage, the fifth-seeded Owls finished their season with a 13-12 record after being bounced in the semifinals to Southern Methodist University after impressive wins against the University of Southern Mississippi and fourth-seeded University of Houston.

On April 16, junior Rebekka Hänle, senior Rebecca Lin and sophomore Alex Rasch steered the Owls to a 4-0 sweep with wins in singles against the Golden Eagles in the tournament's opening round. Hänle won her eighth straight match 6-1, 6-0. Lin closed out her match 6-3, 6-1 while Rasch finished third with a 6-4, 6-1 win - much to the disappointment of junior Jessica Jackson, who was racing Rasch for the clinching point after going up 6-1, 4-1.

The women dominated doubles play as well with Lin and Jackson taking the first set 8-2 and Hänle and Rasch clinching the point with an 8-6 decision.

With the win over Southern Miss, the Owls took on Houston the next day. With a 6-1, 6-1 win from senior Julie Chao, a 6-0, 6-0 win from Hänle and a 6-2, 6-1 win from Rasch, the Owls took three points in addition to the doubles point.

This second sweep gave Rice its seventh consecutive berth in the conference semifinals, pitting them against the first seed, No. 25 SMU. The women faced off against the Mustangs in their penultimate match of the regular season, which resulted in a 5-2 loss.

On Saturday, April 18, the semifinal match was moved indoors to the Galleria Athletic & Tennis Club due to persistent thunderstorms. SMU's nationally-ranked first and second doubles teams blew Guzman/Chao and Lin/Jackson off the court with 8-4 and 8-3 wins, respectively. Already down 1-0, Chao lost 6-2, 6-3 and freshman Ana Guzman lost 6-3, 6-4, putting all the pressure on Lin.

Continued...

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