The No. 29 SMU women’s tennis team defeated the No. 42 Rice Owls, 6-1, Saturday for their final victory of the regular season. The Mustangs (22-3) will now travel to Tulsa to defend their Conference USA crown.

“I was very happy that we came out focused,” head coach Lauren Longbotham-Meisner said in an interview with smumustangs.com. “Rice has beaten some really talented teams this season and I knew that they would bring all that they had today. I told the girls to be ready for a fight and they came out with really good energy, and I am very pleased with that.”

The Owls struck first in the match by taking No. 2 doubles and only needed to win one more doubles match to claim the point.

However, No. 3 doubles, made up of senior Casey Kennedy and freshman Edyta Cieplucha, quickly cut off Rice’s momentum with an 8-6 win.

The No. 1 doubles team, sophomores Marta Lesniak and Aleksandra Malyarchikova, wrapped up the match soon after to give the Mustangs the first point of the match.

In singles, the Mustangs continued to dominate, as Cieplucha, ranked No. 123 in the nation, dropped her opponent in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1, for SMU’s second point. Malyarchikova followed suit by also taking out her opponent in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2. Freshman Shahzoda Hatamova claimed the fourth and decisive point for the Mustangs, winning 6-1, 6-2.

The Owls managed to claim a point when Daniella Trigo defeated Sophie Quist in three sets (2-6, 7-5, 10-4) in No. 6 singles. And finally, No. 34 Lesniak defeated No. 104 Rebekka Hanle in three sets, 6-3, 3-6 (11-9) for the final point for the Mustangs.