Women's Tennis | 2/28/2016 10:56:00 PM

Ana Perez, Pippa Carr and Eva Dench recorded victories to lead the Texas State women's tennis team in a 6-1 loss against No. 32-ranked Rice at the George R. Brown Tennis Center in Houston on Sunday afternoon.
 
Dench and Carr began Sunday's match combining to beat Alison Ho and Fernanda Astete by a score of 6-2 on court two before Rice came back to win the doubles point with wins on courts one and three.
 
In singles play, Dench battled toe-to-toe with nationally-ranked Lindsey Hodge (81) during their match on court one. Hodge won the first set by a score 6-2, before Dench fought back to win the second set, 7-5, and force a match-deciding super-tiebreaker to 10 points in the third set. They were tied at 5-5 in the super-tiebreaker before Hodge broke serve and went on to win the set by a score of 10-7 for the victory.  
 
Perez scored Texas State's lone point on Sunday when she defeated Astete in straight sets on court five. Perez captured the first set by a score of 7-6 after winning the tiebreaker, 10-8. Then, she came back to win the second set and the match by a score of 6-3. The win was the third straight victory and fifth win overall for Perez this season.
 
Carr dropped her No. 2 match against nationally-ranked Katherine Ip (31) by a score of 6-3, 6-1.  
 
Yadira Rubio fell 6-1, 6-2 against Emily Smith on court three. On court four, Katy Collins dropped a 6-3, 6-0 decision against Alison Ho.
 
In the final singles match of the day, Bianca Birkenstock played in her first official match of the spring and fell 6-0, 6-0 against Solomiya Zinko on court six.
 
Texas State returns to action playing a pair of matches in Las Vegas against Southern Utah and UNLV on March 5 and 6. The Bobcats also play at UTSA on March 11 before playing a pair of home matches against UTEP and Central Arkansas on Mar. 18 and Mar. 22, respectively.
 
Singles competition
1. No. 81 Lindsey Hodge (RICE) def. Eva Dench (TXST) 6-2, 5-7, 10-7
2. No. 31 Katherine Ip (RICE) def. Pippa Carr (TXST) 6-3, 6-1
3. Emily Smith (RICE) def. Yadira Rubio (TXST) 6-1, 6-2
4. Alison Ho (RICE) def. Katy Collins (TXST) 6-3, 6-0
5. Ana Perez (TXST) def. Fernanda Astete (RICE) 7-6 (10-8), 6-3
6. Solomiya Zinko (RICE) def. Bianca Birkenstock (TXST) 6-0, 6-0

Doubles competition
1. Katherine Ip/Emily Smith (RICE) def. Yadira Rubio/Ana Perez (TXST) 6-3
2. Eva Dench/Pippa Carr (TXST) def. Alison Ho/Fernanda Astete (RICE) 6-2
3. Savannah Durkin/Solomiya Zinko (RICE) def. Katy Collins/Ammaarah Tim (TXST) 6-2


Match Notes:
Texas State 3-7
Rice 6-2; National ranking #32
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (3,6,4,2,1)