Women's Tennis | 2/28/2015 6:29:00 PM

HOUSTON – Playing against a nationally ranked team for the first time this season, the Texas State women's tennis team suffered a 6-1 loss at No. 58 Rice on a breezy and brisk Saturday afternoon at the George R. Brown Tennis Center.
 
Texas State's lone point in the match came on Shannon Beckett's comeback, three-set victory against Alison Ho on the No. 5 court. Beckett dropped the first set by a score of 6-4, before she came back to win the second set by the same score and capture the third set 1-0 after winning the super-tiebreaker by the score of 10-6.
 
The Owls opened the day capturing the team doubles point after winning two of the three matches. Monica Pieratt and Beckett suffered a 6-1 loss against Savannah Durkin and Solomiya Zinko in the No. 3 match. Then, Ana Laura Gutierrez and Pippa Carr dropped a 6-2 decision against Natalie Beazant and Liat Zimmermann.
 
In singles play, Pieratt dropped a 6-0, 6-0 decision against Beazant, who entered the day ranked 25 in singles, on the No. 1 court.
 
Then, Eva Dench suffered a 6-1, 6-1 loss against Durkin in the No. 4 match. Katherine Ip clinched the victory for Rice when she won a 6-0, 6-2 decision against Gutierrez on the No. 2 court.
 
Katy Collins suffered her first loss of the season when she fell 6-4, 6-3 against Zinko in the No. 6 match.
 
In the No. 3 match, Pippa Carr won the first set of her No. 3 match against Lindsey Hodge by a score of 6-3. However, Hodge came back to win the second set 6-1 and won the third-set super tiebreaker by a score of 10-2 to win the set 1-0.
 
The loss drops Texas State's record to 3-4 this spring. The Bobcats return home to host Missouri State on March 11 at the Bobcat Tennis Complex.