BATON ROUGE, La. \u2013 The Rice women’s tennis team dropped a hard-fought 4-1 decision to No. 10 LSU on Sunday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.<\/p>\n
No. 42 Rice (18-7) battled throughout the match and held leads on multiple courts when play was halted, nearly mounting a comeback after falling behind early.<\/p>\n
LSU claimed the doubles point, but not without resistance from the Owls. On Court 2, Ema Mravcova<\/a> and Francesca Maguin fell 6-2 to Kenna Erickson and Ella McDonald. The Tigers clinched the point on Court 3, where Divna Ratkovic<\/a> and Daniela Chica<\/a> led early before dropping a 6-4 decision to Carolina Kuhl and Addison Lanton. On Court 1, Darya Schwartzman<\/a> and Uma Bakaityte<\/a> were rallying and led 5-4 when play was suspended.<\/p>\n In singles, Schwartzman fell 6-3, 6-1 to Cadence Brace on Court 1, giving LSU a 2-0 lead. Mravcova responded with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Kinaa Graham on Court 6\u00a0to put Rice on the board. Bakaityte split the first two sets before dropping the decider 6-3. On Court 3, Nithesa Selvaraj<\/a> won the opening set but fell 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 to Kuhl, which clinched the match for LSU.<\/p>\n Play was halted on the remaining courts. Ratkovic had rallied to lead 3-0 in the third set after splitting the first two, 5-7, 7-6. On Court 4, Maguina fought off a match point and held a 4-6, 6-4, 6-5 advantage.<\/p>\n