UH tennis struggled against No. 55 Rice Saturday morning after making the trip across town, falling to the Owls in a 4-0 sweep after failing to claim a single match win on the day.
Doubles play kicked off the morning and the Owls came out with a sense of urgency after immediately taking the first of two matches needed to secure the doubles point.
Junior Azul Pedemonti and sophomore Blanca Cortijo Parreno fell in a 6-0 shutout against the No. 24 team of junior Maria Budin and senior Diae El Jardi.
Soon after, senior Sophie Gerits and sophomore Laura Slisane were defeated 6-4 after putting up a solid effort against the Owls team of senior Anastasia Smirnova and freshman Allison Zipol and Rice took the point to go up 1-0 early.
Things didn’t get any better for the Cougars in singles play.
UH freshman Maria Dzemeshkevich quickly fell in her match against Rice senior Victoria Smirnova in a quick 6-1, 6-0 match to put the Owls up 2-0.
Slisane was the next to be defeated in her match after losing 6-2, 6-2 to Rice sophomore Federica Trevisan and Gerits losing to Zipol officially gave the win to the Owls in a 4-0 sweep and concluded the Cougars regular season.
UH finished with a 13-9 record and were 2-2 in conference play.
The focus now shifts to the 2022 American Athletic Conference Championship tournament in Tulsa, Oklahoma that will take place from April 20-23 at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.