HOUSTON –The BYU women’s tennis team fell 7-0 to No. 45 Rice University Thursday at the Jake Hess Tennis Stadium.

The Owls struck quickly, collecting wins on all three courts to earn the doubles point. All three BYU duos fell 8-5 to their respective opponents. No. 36 Natalie Beazant and Dominique Harmath topped senior Megan Price and freshman Meghan Sheehan-Dizon on Court 1. At the No. 2 spot, freshman Morgan Anderson and junior Aubrey Paul dropped their match to Ana Guzman and Katie Gater. Rice closed things out in doubles by beating sophomore Desiree Tran and freshman Lisa Waldron. 

The Owls carried their momentum into singles with No. 59 Beazant taking a 6-2, 6-0 decision over Tran on Court 1. Anderson followed with a 6-1, 6-2 loss on Court 3. The Owls clinched the match with Stephanie Nguyen’s straight-set win over Waldron, 6-1, 6-1.

The Cougars dropped the rest of their matches in straight sets for a final 7-0 score.

BYU will finish its three-match road trip to Texas Saturday against SMU at 3 p.m. CST.
 

BYU vs Rice
3/2/2012 at Houston, Texas
(Jake Hess Tennis Stadium)
#45 Rice 7, BYU 0
 

Singles competition
1. #59 Natalie Beazant (RICE) def. Desiree Tran (BYU) 6-2, 6-0
2. Dominique Harmath (RICE) def. Megan Price (BYU) 6-1, 6-1
3. Katie Gater (RICE) def. Morgan Anderson (BYU) 6-1, 6-2
4. Ana Guzman (RICE) def. Meghan Sheehan-Dizon (BYU) 6-2, 6-3
5. Kimberly Anicete (RICE) def. Aubrey Paul (BYU) 6-3, 6-3
6. Stephanie Nguyen (RICE) def. Lisa Waldron (BYU) 6-1, 6-1
 

Doubles competition
1. #36 N. Beazant/D. Harmath (RICE) def. Megan Price/Meghan Sheehan-Dizon (BYU) 8-5
2. A. Guzman/K. Gater (RICE) def. Morgan Anderson/Aubrey Paul (BYU) 8-5
3. K. Anicete/S. Nguyen (RICE) def. Desiree Tran/Lisa Waldron (BYU) 8-5
 

Match Notes:
BYU 2-7
Rice 8-3; National ranking #45
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (1,3,6,2,5,4)

PROVO, Utah – The BYU women’s tennis team is looking to bounce back after a tough weekend in Washington, traveling to Texas to take on Texas A&M, Rice University and Southern Methodist University.

The Cougars (2-5) will play No. 23 Texas A&M Thursday at 6 p.m. CST at the Georgy P. Mitchell Tennis Center for their third consecutive road match. BYU then heads to No. 47 Rice University Friday for an 11 a.m. match start. Rounding out the weekend, the Cougars challenge No. 75 SMU Saturday at 3 p.m. in Dallas.  

Last weekend, BYU suffered tough losses, falling 7-0 to Washington State and 4-3 to Idaho.

Playing at the No. 4 singles position, freshman Meghan Sheehan-Dizon leads the Cougars in singles, with a 5-2 record this spring. Sheehan-Dizon and senior Megan Price team up at the No. 1 doubles position and have a team-leading 5-2 record in dual doubles matches.

No. 23 Texas A&M is led by No. 4 Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar. Sanchez-Quintanar, who is 7-0 in dual matches, is joined in the singles rankings by teammates Wen Sun and Nazari Urbina, who are No. 86 and No. 114, respectively. The Aggies (6-1) are riding a five-match winning streak.

No. 47 Rice University (8-2) has one ranked singles player in No. 59 Natalie Beazant and a ranked doubles duo in No. 26 Dominique Harmath and Natalie Beazant. Rice is coming off a 5-2 win over Oklahoma. BYU and Rice last met in March 2007, when the Cougars topped the Owls, 7-0.

No. 75 SMU (1-6) recorded its first win of the season last weekend, taking a 4-3 decision over No. 40 Princeton. The Mustangs are represented in the ITA national rankings by No. 60 Edyta Cieplucha. The last meeting between the two teams came in Feb. 2010, when the Cougars fell 4-1.

BYU returns home March 19 when it takes on San Diego.