Sunday, February 5
College Station
1:00 PM
Texas A&M
1
vs
4
Rice
Photo by: Sam Craft/Texas A&M Athletics
No. 15 Texas A&M Falls to Rice, 4-1
Feb 05, 2017 | Women's Tennis
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – No. 15 Texas A&M suffered its first loss of the season, falling to Rice, 4-1, today at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
Texas A&M, which entered the match aiming to become only the third team in Aggie women's tennis history to begin a season, 6-0, drops to 5-1. The Owls improve to 4-1 and snap a nine-match losing skid in the series against the Aggies.
Both teams entered the contest having won the doubles point in every match this season. The point appropriately came down to a tiebreaker in the final match. Rice took the early lead as Alison Ho and Priya Niezgoda cruised to a 6-1 victory over A&M's Domenica Gonzalez and Eva Paalma at the No. 2 line, ending the Aggie tandem's three-match win streak.
The Owls had the lead at No. 1 and were on pace to clinch the point as Lindsey Hodge and Priya Niezgoda were up a break, 4-2, against 17th-ranked Rutuja Bhosale and Rachel Pierson. The Aggie duo, however, won the next four games for the come-from-behind victory to improve to 5-0.
It was the Owls who posted an impressive comeback at Court 3 to clinch the point. The Rice tandem of Savannah Durkin and Katherine Ip trailed A&M's Tina Bokhua and Stefania Hristov, 5-3, 40-love, but came back to win the game. The Owls also fought off a match point at 6-5 to even the score at 6-6 and force a tiebreaker. Rice dominated the decisive tiebreaker, racing to a 7-0 victory to win the match, 7-6, and give the Owls the 1-0 lead.
Rice carried the momentum into singles, winning the first set on four of six courts. Ho, ranked No. 102 in singles, was first off after defeating Hristov, 6-2, 6-2, at No. 5 to put the Owls up, 2-0. Ip, ranked 110th, followed, handing 57th-ranked Bokhua her first loss in dual match play with a 6-1, 6-4 victory at Court 3, to put Rice ahead, 3-0
Macarena Olivares put the Aggies on the scoreboard and improved to a team-best 5-0 in dual matches with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Astete at No. 4. It would be the only victory for the Aggies.
Hodge won three consecutive wins to close out a 6-4 first-set win at the No. 2 line against Bhosale, who entered the match 4-0 in dual match play. Hodge then led the entire second set en route to a 6-3 win to clinch the 4-1 victory for the Owls and snap Bhosale's team-leading seven-match win streak dating back to the fall season.
Matches would be abandoned on the remaining two courts. Pierson, ranked 85th, had raced to a 6-1 first-set victory over Zhang at No. 1 and was serving for the match leading 6-5 in the second set when play was stopped.
Gonzalez had rallied against Durkin to force a third set at the No. 6 line. Durkin won the opening frame, 6-3, and held a 4-1 second-set lead before Gonzalez reeled off five consecutive games to take the set, 6-4. The first set of the third set had just begun before play was halted.
The match was the Aggies' final tune-up before competing in the prestigious 16-team ITA Division I National Team Indoor Championship, Feb. 10-13 at Yale. The tournament bracket will be announced Wednesday.
Visit 12thMan.com for more information on Texas A&M women's tennis. Aggie fans also can keep up to date with the A&M women's tennis team on Twitter by following @AggieWTEN or on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/pages/Aggie-Womens-Tennis/143874782434654
Texas A&M quotes:
Head Coach Mark Weaver
General comments on the match …
"I told the girls before the match that I thought Rice was a very good team. I told them this is a top 20-25 level team that definitely will be in contention in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen in May. I did expect the Aggies to win today, but I'm not that surprised that it was a tough match by any means. Rice is a very good team. They have a singles All-American playing No. 3. They have an All-American transfer from Miami playing No. 1. We obviously hit a bit of bad misfortune in the doubles. We made a great comeback at No. 1 doubles against a very good team. No. 2 doubles had a rough day at the office. They've had a great season for us. No. 3 doubles, we did everything but win the match. We were up 5-3, 40-love. We had four straight match points, and we had another match point or two at 6-5. That probably took the wind out of our sails a little bit.
"Having said that, the singles things were looking a little rough for a while, although we weren't that far from mounting a great comeback. Rachel (Pierson) was looking pretty good in her match and Domenica (Gonzalez) was getting better and better in her match at No. 6, and then Rutuja (Bhosale) had a bit of an injury at No. 2. Rice simply just outplayed us. They are a very good team at what they do. They counterpunch very well. In the doubles, they definitely took us out of our game. We definitely play more of the offensive, dictating style. They did a great job of hitting the ball where we didn't want it or like it. They did a great job of lobbing and keeping us off of our game. That was the story for most of the day. We were trying to take charge of the points, which is what we generally do well, but to their credit, they moved well and kept finding ways to keep the ball in play, so all credit to Rice. They are a very good team.
"We've had a great start to the season. We definitely hit a tough one today. We just need to regroup and get over this. Maybe it will toughen us up a little bit and make us a little feisty heading into the National Indoor Championship next week. At the end of the day, Rice has a very good team, and they are going to have a very good season, no doubt about it."
Rice 4, #15 Texas A&M 1
George P. Mitchell Tennis Center
College Station, Texas
Singles
1. #85 Rachel Pierson (A&M) vs. Wendy Zhang (RICE), 6-1, 6-5 unfinished
2. Lindsey Hodge (RICE) def. Rutuja Bhosale (A&M), 6-4, 6-3
3. #110 Katherine Ip (RICE) def. #57 Tina Bokhua (A&M), 6-1, 6-4
4. Macarena Olivares (A&M) def. Fernanda Astete (RICE), 6-2, 6-2
5. #102 Alison Ho (RICE) def. Stefania Hristov (A&M), 6-2, 6-2
6. Dominica Gonzalez (A&M) vs. Savannah Durkin (RICE), 3-6, 6-4 unfinished
Doubles
1. (#17) Bhosale/Pierson (A&M) def. Hodge/Zhang (RICE), 6-4
2. Ho/Priya Niezgoda (RICE) def. Gonzalez/Eva Paalma (A&M), 6-1
3. Durkin/Ip (RICE) def. Bokhua/Hristov (A&M), 7-6 (0)
Match Notes:
Rice 4-1
Texas A&M 5-1; National ranking #15
Order of finish: Doubles (2, 1, 3); Singles (5, 3, 4, 2)
Pronunciations
Rutuja Bhosale roo-too-jah bo-slay
Tina Bokhua bo-kwah
Saska Gavrilovska saush-ka gav-ril-ohv-ska
Stefania Hristov steff-on-ya RIS-tov
Eva Paalma A-va palma
Texas A&M, which entered the match aiming to become only the third team in Aggie women's tennis history to begin a season, 6-0, drops to 5-1. The Owls improve to 4-1 and snap a nine-match losing skid in the series against the Aggies.
Both teams entered the contest having won the doubles point in every match this season. The point appropriately came down to a tiebreaker in the final match. Rice took the early lead as Alison Ho and Priya Niezgoda cruised to a 6-1 victory over A&M's Domenica Gonzalez and Eva Paalma at the No. 2 line, ending the Aggie tandem's three-match win streak.
The Owls had the lead at No. 1 and were on pace to clinch the point as Lindsey Hodge and Priya Niezgoda were up a break, 4-2, against 17th-ranked Rutuja Bhosale and Rachel Pierson. The Aggie duo, however, won the next four games for the come-from-behind victory to improve to 5-0.
It was the Owls who posted an impressive comeback at Court 3 to clinch the point. The Rice tandem of Savannah Durkin and Katherine Ip trailed A&M's Tina Bokhua and Stefania Hristov, 5-3, 40-love, but came back to win the game. The Owls also fought off a match point at 6-5 to even the score at 6-6 and force a tiebreaker. Rice dominated the decisive tiebreaker, racing to a 7-0 victory to win the match, 7-6, and give the Owls the 1-0 lead.
Rice carried the momentum into singles, winning the first set on four of six courts. Ho, ranked No. 102 in singles, was first off after defeating Hristov, 6-2, 6-2, at No. 5 to put the Owls up, 2-0. Ip, ranked 110th, followed, handing 57th-ranked Bokhua her first loss in dual match play with a 6-1, 6-4 victory at Court 3, to put Rice ahead, 3-0
Macarena Olivares put the Aggies on the scoreboard and improved to a team-best 5-0 in dual matches with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Astete at No. 4. It would be the only victory for the Aggies.
Hodge won three consecutive wins to close out a 6-4 first-set win at the No. 2 line against Bhosale, who entered the match 4-0 in dual match play. Hodge then led the entire second set en route to a 6-3 win to clinch the 4-1 victory for the Owls and snap Bhosale's team-leading seven-match win streak dating back to the fall season.
Matches would be abandoned on the remaining two courts. Pierson, ranked 85th, had raced to a 6-1 first-set victory over Zhang at No. 1 and was serving for the match leading 6-5 in the second set when play was stopped.
Gonzalez had rallied against Durkin to force a third set at the No. 6 line. Durkin won the opening frame, 6-3, and held a 4-1 second-set lead before Gonzalez reeled off five consecutive games to take the set, 6-4. The first set of the third set had just begun before play was halted.
The match was the Aggies' final tune-up before competing in the prestigious 16-team ITA Division I National Team Indoor Championship, Feb. 10-13 at Yale. The tournament bracket will be announced Wednesday.
Visit 12thMan.com for more information on Texas A&M women's tennis. Aggie fans also can keep up to date with the A&M women's tennis team on Twitter by following @AggieWTEN or on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/pages/Aggie-Womens-Tennis/143874782434654
Texas A&M quotes:
Head Coach Mark Weaver
General comments on the match …
"I told the girls before the match that I thought Rice was a very good team. I told them this is a top 20-25 level team that definitely will be in contention in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen in May. I did expect the Aggies to win today, but I'm not that surprised that it was a tough match by any means. Rice is a very good team. They have a singles All-American playing No. 3. They have an All-American transfer from Miami playing No. 1. We obviously hit a bit of bad misfortune in the doubles. We made a great comeback at No. 1 doubles against a very good team. No. 2 doubles had a rough day at the office. They've had a great season for us. No. 3 doubles, we did everything but win the match. We were up 5-3, 40-love. We had four straight match points, and we had another match point or two at 6-5. That probably took the wind out of our sails a little bit.
"Having said that, the singles things were looking a little rough for a while, although we weren't that far from mounting a great comeback. Rachel (Pierson) was looking pretty good in her match and Domenica (Gonzalez) was getting better and better in her match at No. 6, and then Rutuja (Bhosale) had a bit of an injury at No. 2. Rice simply just outplayed us. They are a very good team at what they do. They counterpunch very well. In the doubles, they definitely took us out of our game. We definitely play more of the offensive, dictating style. They did a great job of hitting the ball where we didn't want it or like it. They did a great job of lobbing and keeping us off of our game. That was the story for most of the day. We were trying to take charge of the points, which is what we generally do well, but to their credit, they moved well and kept finding ways to keep the ball in play, so all credit to Rice. They are a very good team.
"We've had a great start to the season. We definitely hit a tough one today. We just need to regroup and get over this. Maybe it will toughen us up a little bit and make us a little feisty heading into the National Indoor Championship next week. At the end of the day, Rice has a very good team, and they are going to have a very good season, no doubt about it."
Rice 4, #15 Texas A&M 1
George P. Mitchell Tennis Center
College Station, Texas
Singles
1. #85 Rachel Pierson (A&M) vs. Wendy Zhang (RICE), 6-1, 6-5 unfinished
2. Lindsey Hodge (RICE) def. Rutuja Bhosale (A&M), 6-4, 6-3
3. #110 Katherine Ip (RICE) def. #57 Tina Bokhua (A&M), 6-1, 6-4
4. Macarena Olivares (A&M) def. Fernanda Astete (RICE), 6-2, 6-2
5. #102 Alison Ho (RICE) def. Stefania Hristov (A&M), 6-2, 6-2
6. Dominica Gonzalez (A&M) vs. Savannah Durkin (RICE), 3-6, 6-4 unfinished
Doubles
1. (#17) Bhosale/Pierson (A&M) def. Hodge/Zhang (RICE), 6-4
2. Ho/Priya Niezgoda (RICE) def. Gonzalez/Eva Paalma (A&M), 6-1
3. Durkin/Ip (RICE) def. Bokhua/Hristov (A&M), 7-6 (0)
Match Notes:
Rice 4-1
Texas A&M 5-1; National ranking #15
Order of finish: Doubles (2, 1, 3); Singles (5, 3, 4, 2)
Pronunciations
Rutuja Bhosale roo-too-jah bo-slay
Tina Bokhua bo-kwah
Saska Gavrilovska saush-ka gav-ril-ohv-ska
Stefania Hristov steff-on-ya RIS-tov
Eva Paalma A-va palma
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
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