DENTON — No. 37 Rice ended UTSA's season with a 5-0 victory on Friday in the quarterfinals of this weekend's Conference USA Tournament.
The top-seeded Owls (16-5) jumped on top of the No. 9 seed Roadrunners (12-9) early on by capturing the doubles point.
Alison Ho and Priya Niezgoda cruised past Denisa Ibrahimovic and Sonia Madroñal Medina by a score of 6-1 at the second position in the lineup. Katherine Ip and Savannah Durkin then rallied from a 5-3 deficit by scoring the final four points against Lina Hallgren and Charleen Tiwari on court three to put Rice in front.
The Owls dominated singles play to finish off their seventh consecutive victory.
Durkin downed Laura Cabrera in straight sets by scores of 6-1 and 6-0 at the fifth spot and Ho followed with a 6-2, 6-2 win against Kylee Kato at the sixth position to push the advantage to 3-0.
A battle between two nationally-ranked players on center court saw No. 110 Lindsey Hodge hand 100th-ranked Miriam Rosell Canudas her first dual-match loss of the spring, 6-1, 6-3, which clinched the Owls' 12th all-time victory against UTSA in as many meetings.
Rice's final victory of the day came on court No. 3, where Wendy Zhang defeated Tiwari in identical 6-2 sets.
#37 Rice 5, UTSA 0
Doubles
1. #90 Hodge/Zhang (RICE) vs. Kato/Rosell Canudas (UTSA) 6-5, unfinished
2. Ho/Niezgoda (RICE) def. Ibrahimovic/Madroñal Medina (UTSA) 6-1
3. Ip/Durkin (RICE) def. Hallgren/Tiwari (UTSA) 7-5
Singles
1. #110 Lindsey Hodge (RICE) def. #100 Miriam Rosell Canudas (UTSA) 6-1, 6-3
2. Katherine Ip (RICE) vs. Denisa Ibrahimovic (UTSA) 6-1, 4-4, unfinished
3. Wendy Zhang (RICE) vs. Charleen Tiwari (UTSA) 6-2, 6-2
4. Lina Hallgren (UTSA) vs. Fernanda Astete (RICE) 6-5, unfinished
5. Savannah Durkin (RICE) def. Laura Cabrera (UTSA) 6-1, 6-0
6. Alison Ho (RICE) def. Kylee Kato (UTSA) 6-2, 6-2
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (5,6,1,3)
