SAN ANTONIO — UTSA will continue its fall season this weekend when it sends a full squad of eight players to the Rice Invitational. The three-day tournament is scheduled to begin on Friday morning at the George R. Brown Tennis Center in Houston.
Players from Alabama, Auburn, Denver, Houston, McNeese State, Sam Houston State, SMU, Southern Miss, Texas, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas State and Tulane will join the Roadrunners and host Owls in single and doubles competition.
Charleen Tiwari won the singles backdraw title to highlight UTSA's three days of action at last weekend's season-opening Islander Open in Corpus Christi.
After dropping her opening match last Friday morning to Sam Houston State's Khee Yee Wee (6-1, 6-4), Tiwari cruised through the consolation bracket with four consecutive victories to win the crown.
The sophomore from Perth, Australia, rebounded from her setback with a 6-2, 4-6, 1-0 (10-2) win against Texas-Rio Grande Valley's Dominique Fuster on Friday afternoon. She then topped Sam Houston State's Carrie Casey in straight sets (6-4, 6-2) the next morning and followed that with a 6-7, 6-4, 1-0 (10-1) triumph against UTRGV's Anastasia Belyaeva to advance to Sunday's final.
Tiwari picked up the tournament title in a walkover against UTRGV's Dominique Ibarra.
