HOUSTON, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's tennis team faced Rice Thursday and put up a fight before ultimately falling for the first time this season in a 4-0 decision.
The Islanders (10-1) were tasked with going on the road to a difficult opponent in Rice who is ranked #41 in the ITA rankings, and unfortunately came up on the down side of a 4-0 match. However, they still hoist a 53-4 advantage in dual matches against their opposition this season.
It was the first time the Islanders dropped a decision between singles courts one and three, who are still overwhelmingly dominating 27-1 at the top of the lineup. Today, however, didn't have the Islanders' usual No. 1 and No. 2 positions in
Leticia Tarocco and
Josefa Fuenzalida play.
"We played a very good Rice team today, a top-25 level team!" said head coach
Steve Moore. "But we fought very hard and showed good heart and character. They say you're either winning or you're learning and today we did some learning which will be very beneficial in the big scheme of our season."
After the doubles point went the way of the home team, Rice took points at No. 1, No. 4, and No. 6 singles to take the match.
Adriana Jimenez Casado and
Emma Bousquet both fought to keep their first sets close and were showing that strength again in their seconds before play was whistled down.
Kseniya Ramanouskaya was battling in the second set up 2-1 at No. 2 singles before going unfinished.
The Islanders will now have nine days to recoup and practice heavy ahead of conference opening Feb. 28 at home against the reigning tournament champions SFA. A&M-Corpus Christi and SFA split the regular season title last year, as it will be a face off between last year's top two teams in the league.
A&M-Corpus Christi Tennis
- 17 NCAA Tournaments
- 37 SLC Championships
- 4 Top-40 National Rankings
- 3.0 GPA 43 Straight Semesters
- Islanders have received a No. 3 seed at the NCAA Tournament three times
- Women's tennis has cracked the ITA top-75 national rankings three times
- Men's tennis has cracked the ITA national rankings 10 consecutive years
- Ranked nationally in NCAA DI as high as No. 35 for the men and No. 60 for the women
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