WACO – The Rice women’s tennis team turned in a strong performance Friday on the opening day of the H-E-B Invitational hosted by Baylor.
The Owls recorded five doubles wins and six singles victories to start the weekend.
Darya Schwartzman and Francesca Maguina, who received a first-round bye, defeated Kansas’ Meriem Ezzedine and Kinley VanPelt 6-4 in the round of 16 and will compete Saturday at 9 a.m. Nithesa Selvaraj and Uma Bakaityte also earned a bye and topped Iowa State’s Suzanie Pretorius and Julia Camblor 6-1 to advance to Saturday’s 9 a.m. matches.
The team of Divna Ratkovic and Daniela Chica notched two 6-1 wins to reach the quarterfinals, where they will also play at 9 a.m.
In singles, Ema Mravcova, Bakaityte, Selvaraj, Ratkovic, Schwartzman and Maguina all picked up victories to open the tournament. Singles play will continue Saturday at a time to be announced.
RESULTS
Doubles
Divna Ratkovic/Daniela Chica (Rice) Def. Hiakamya Singh/Rhea Makesar (UTRGV) 6-1
Valentina Ponce/Ema Mravcova (Rice) def. Madeleine Joffe/Luna Buijtenhuis (UTRGV) 6-0
Darya Schwartzman/Francesca Maguina (Rice) def. Meriem Ezzedine/Kinley VanPelt (Kansas) 6-3
Anushka Ashar/Luna Ivkovic (Rice/Baylor) def. Martaa Chogsomjav/Margaret Jaraczewski (Kansas State) 7-5
Ruby Hansen/Remy Nguyen (Denver) def. Anushka Ashar/Luna Ivkovic (Rice/Baylor) 6-0
Nithesa Selvaraj/Uma Bakaityte (Rice) def. Suzanie Pretoruis/Julia Camblor (Iowa State) 6-1
Divna Ratkovic/Daniela Chica (Rice) def. Avery Esquivel/Anna Perelman (TAMU) 6-1
Kennedy Gibbs/Alain Zack (Baylor) def. Valentina Ponce/Ema Mravcova (Rice) 7-6 (4)
Singles
Darya Schwartzman (Rice) def. Zoe Adkins (Denver) 6-1, 6-1
Divna Ratkovic (Rice) def. Valeria Sanchez (UTSA) 6-2, 6-1
Uma Bakaityte (Rice) def. Suzanie Pretorius (Iowa State) 6-2, 6-0
Nithesa Selvaraj (Rice) def. Barbra Martinez (UTRGV) 6-1, 6-0
Francesca Maguina (Rice) def. Aoka Nagasawa (UTSA) 6-2, 6-3
Daniela Chica (Rice) def. Hitakamya Singh (UTRGV) 6-2, 6-2
Natali Jaiani (Denver) def. Valentina Ponce (Rice) 6-3, 2-6, 10-5