Mississippi State
Rice
MSU Lady Netters Down Rice; Host Louisiana Monroe Saturday
February 08, 2008 | Women's Tennis
STARKVILLE, Miss. ? Mississippi State's women's tennis team defeated the Rice Owls 4-3 Friday at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre. The Lady Bulldogs improved to 2-0 overall with the win.
State is off to its first 2-0 start since the 2005 season when they began 6-0. Rice dropped to 4-3 for the season.
MSU grabbed the doubles point by capturing two of the three doubles positions. On court No. 1, the State duo of Martina Banikova and Elna de Villiers fell to Julie Chao and Tiffany Lee 8-5. State then posted an 8-5 victory by Daniela Juskova and Valeriya Makarycheva at the No. 3 spot, defeating Rice's Emily Braid and Christine Dao. To finish out doubles play, the Bulldog tandem of Radka Ferancova and Renee Joseph claimed victory over Rebecca Lin and Varsha Shiva-Shankar 8-6.
In singles play, Rice took a 2-1 match lead with two straight-set victories. On court No. 4, Dao defeated de Villiers 6-4, 6-1 and Braid posted a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Juskova at the No. 5 position. State then tied the match at 2-2, with #64 Joseph winning 6-0, 6-4 over Lee on court No. 2.
Rice would go back on top 3-2 with a win at the No. 6 position where Makarycheva was defeated by Shiva-Shankar 6-3, 7-5. Mississippi State would then even the match again at 3-3 with a 6-3, 6-3 win from Ferancova over Lin of Rice.
The match-clincher would come at the No. 1 position. Banikova took the first set over #99 Chao in a 7-4 tiebreaker. Then, with the match on the line, Banikova broke serve twice to claim the win for the Lady Bulldogs 7-6(4), 6-3.
"This was a good win for us," commented head coach Tracy Lane. "We are getting great wins at the top positions. We just need to be more consistent throughout our lineup."
Mississippi State will play again Saturday at home against the Warhawks of Louisiana Monroe. The match is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre.
Mississippi State 4, #74 Rice 3
February 8, 2008 ? Starkville, Miss.
DOUBLES ? Julie Chao/Tiffany Lee (RICE) def. Martina Banikova/Elna de Villiers (MSU) 8-5; Radka Ferancova/Renee Joseph (MSU) def. Rebecca Lin/Varsha Shiva-Shankar (RICE) 8-5; Daniela Juskova (MSU) def. Emily Braid/Christine Dao (RICE) 8-6.
SINGLES ?Banikova (MSU) def. #99 Chao (RICE) 7-6(4), 6-3; #67 Joseph (MSU) def. Lee (RICE) 6-0, 6-4; Ferancova (MSU) def. Lin (RICE) 6-3, 6-3; Dao (RICE) def. de Villiers (MSU) 6-4, 6-1; Braid (Rice) def. Juskova (MSU) 6-4, 6-4; Shiva-Shankar (Rice) def. Makarycheva (MSU) 6-3, 7-5.
(numbers preceding names are current national rankings)
