With Southeastern Conference play a little more than a week away, the LSU women’s tennis team will look to continue the intense style of play it showed in a 6-1 win against McNeese State when it faces off with Rice at 1 p.m. on Wednesday in Houston.

The win against McNeese was almost a complete sweep, with the Lady Tigers winning all three doubles matches and all but one of the single matches in straight sets. LSU coach Julia Sell called it the most complete performance so far this season.

“It was the first time we were able to maintain our focus and intensity for an entire match and really shut down our opponent,” Sell said. “As an athlete, you draw a lot of confidence from [such a performance], and we are going to take that into our match versus Rice.”

Rice (3-2) is a program that has been steadily improving under the leadership of coach Elizabeth Schmidt, who was named 2012 Conference USA Coach of the Year. Schmidt guided the Owls to two wins in the NCAA Tournament and a Sweet 16 berth for the first time ever.

Schmidt was not the only one to bring home some hardware following last season. Sophomore Natalie Beazant won numerous awards during her freshman campaign, including both C-USA Freshman and Player of the Year.

“They are a solid team with no huge weakness,” Sell said. “[The Lady Tigers] are going to have to work for every point and execute with confidence if we are going to win this match.”

With only three matches remaining on the non-conference slate, Sell wants the Lady Tigers to focus on being accountable in order to reach the goals they set for themselves.

“We are a team that is transforming daily, and if we continue to trust in the process we are going to have success,” Sell said.