Univ. of Texas at Austin Team Page
No. 29 Texas (3-5) collected singles wins from Breaunna Addison, Elizabeth Begley and Lina Padegimaite, but Rice (8-4) edged the Longhorns by a 4-3 count Saturday afternoon at UT's Penick-Allison Tennis Center.
Rice took two of three doubles matches to win the doubles point. UTs Aeriel Ellis and Elizabeth Begley teamed up for an 8-1 win over Rice's Liat Zimmermann and Stephanie Nguyen at second doubles. But, the Owls won the remaining matches at the third and first doubles slots to nail down the point.
Rice pushed its lead to 2-0 when the Owls' 71st-ranked Beazant toppled UT's 28th- ranked Ellis at first singles, 6-3, 6-1. Texas got on the board at fifth singles where sophomore Lina Padegimaite posted a 6-1, 6-3 win over Rice's Kimberly Anicete. The Longhorns evened the match at two when Begley notched a 6-4, 6-2 win over the Owls' Katie Gater at fourth singles.
Texas took a 3-2 lead behind the 35th-ranked Addison's 6-4, 6-2 win over Rice's 80th- ranked Dominique Harmath at second singles, but the Owls closed out the win with victories at the sixth and third singles slots.
Rice's Solomiya Zinko defeated UT's Juliana Gajic by a 7-5, 6-4 count at No. 6, and Zimmerman held on in the third set against UT's Noel Scott at third singles. Zimmerman took the first set 6-3 before Scott claimed the second set, 6-0.
Zimmerman assumed a 5-2 third-set lead before Scott broke Zimmerman and held serve to close within 5-4. Zimmerman held in the final game to close out the 4-3 win for the Owls.
Texas resumes its dual-match season on Sunday, March 10 when it travels to Stanford.
Rice 4, Texas 3
Doubles - Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1
1 Natalie Beazant/Dominique Harmath (Rice) def. #12 Breaunna Addison/Noel Scott (UT) - 9-7
2 Elizabeth Begley/Aeriel Ellis (UT) def. Liat Zimmermann/Stephanie Nguyen (Rice) - 8-1
3 Danny Trigo/Solomiya Zinko (Rice) def. Lina Padegimaite/Lana Groenvynck (UT) - 8-3
Singles - Order of Finish: 1, 5, 4, 2, 6, 3
1 #71 Natalie Beazant (Rice) def. #28 Aeriel Ellis (UT) - 6-3, 6-1
2 #35 Breaunna Addison (UT) def. #80 Dominique Harmath (Rice) - 6-4, 6-2
3 Liat Zimmerman (Rice) def. Noel Scott (UT) - 6-3, 0-6, 6-4
4 Elizabeth Begley (UT) def. Katie Gater (Rice) - 6-4, 6-2
5 Lina Padegimaite (UT) def. Kimberly Anicete (Rice) - 6-1, 6-3
6 Solomiya Zinko (Rice) def. Juliana Gajic (UT) - 7-5, 6-4
