Jan. 30, 2011
[3] Baylor (3-0) 4, [48] Rice (2-2) 3
Box Score
|
|  |
| Singles | | Hanle
| 6-3, 6-1
| #1 |
| Nakic
| Harmath
| | #2 | 6-0, 6-7, 6-4
| Novakova | Jackson
|
| #3 | 6-2, 7-5
| Secerbegovic | | Guzman | | #4 | 7-5, 6-0
| Filipiak | Trigo
|
| #5 | 6-1, 6-3
| Stanivuk | | Anicete | 6-3, 7-6(2)
| #6 |
| Stainback |
|
| Doubles | | | Guzman/Hanle | 9-8
| #1 | | Stanivuk/Secerbegovic | Harmath/Rasch
| | #2 | 8-2 | Nakic/Novakova | Jackson/Trigo
| 8-4 | #3 | | Stainback/Filipiak |
|
|
|
|
WACO, Texas - No. 3 Baylor survived a close call for the second consecutive day, coming back to defeat 48th-ranked Rice in ITA National Team Indoors qualifying play on Sunday at the Baylor Tennis Center. The win earns Baylor a berth into next month's ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Charlottesville, Va.
"All great teams have players that you rely on and that are consistent day-in and day-out," head coach Joey Scrivano said. "I couldn't be happier with those four players and the way they have competed the last two days."
For the second consecutive day, Baylor erased an early deficit and then relied on Sona Novakova for the match's final point. Novakova scored the fourth point for Baylor in a 4-3 defeat of Alabama on Saturday, before taking today's match into the third set with a 6-0 win in the first and a 7-6 (8-6) loss in the second. Taking a break-point to go up 5-2, Novakova then dropped the next two games to Dominique Harmath, but served the match out to win the set 6-4.
"Sona's just an impressive player," Scrivano said. "She competes extremely well and thank goodness that she's coachable because that really made a difference in the last two days."
Rice started out the day with a gutsy effort in doubles play, taking two of the three matches to earn the point. The Baylor duo of Sona Novakova and Diana Nakic got the Lady Bears out to a good start with an 8-2 win, but Rice took an 8-4 win on Court 2 to leave the deciding match on Court 1. Baylor's Nina Secerbegovic and Jelena Stanivuk were taken to match point five times by Rice's Ana Guzman and Rebekka Hanle before the Owl duo got the point in the tiebreak for a 9-8 (9-7) win.
"I'm concerned that we're in a position to win the doubles point but we're not executing when we need to," Scrivano said. "That's something that I don't like at any position."
In singles, the Lady Bears were able to come back with victories on three of the first four courts that finished to take a 3-2 lead overall. After Rice took the victory at No. 6 singles, the match came down to the play of BU's Sona Novakova for the second consecutive day.
Baylor got their first victory of the day on Court 5 with a dominating straight-set performance from Stanivuk to defeat Daniella Trigo, 6-1, 6-3. Karolina Filipiak also won in straight sets on Court 4 over Guzman, 7-5, 6-0. Secerbegovic then gave Baylor their third point of the match, 6-2, 7-5, over Rice's Jessica Jackson.
Baylor's women's tennis team will be back action next weekend in Gainesville, Fla., taking on the second-ranked University of Florida. The Lady Bears and Gators will begin play at 1 p.m. ET/12 p.m. CT.
