Elizabeth Schmidt

Biography

Email Coach Schmidt Follow @Eschmidty77 C-USA Co-Coach of the Year 2012 C-USA Coach of the Year 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 2013 Wilson/ITA Texas Region Coach of the Year In 17 seasons at the helm of the Rice women's tennis program, Elizabeth Schmidt has built a tennis program that has reached unmatched heights at both the conference and national level. In 2024-25, Rice returned to NCAA action after posting a 17-7 record and finished the season ranked 36th, the Owls' highest ranking since the end of the 2016 season and Schmidt’s ninth top-40 finish. The Owls also hosted the inaugural American Conference Individual Championships at the George R. Brown Tennis Center and Divna Ratkovic won the first-ever conference singles championship. Schmidt has guided the Owls to 10 NCAA appearances, the most for Rice in any team sport over that span, and six conference titles. Rice’s five consecutive Conference USA titles from 2013-17, which matched the longest consecutive postseason titles for any school in any sport (Houston men's golf from 1997-2001) at that time. Her teams produced six Outstanding Singles and six Outstanding Doubles honorees at the C-USA Championships, while Schmidt earned four outright conference Coach of the Year nods and shared a fifth. One of the players who was responsible for a pair of both singles and doubles honors, in addition to a pair of C-USA Player of the Year honors (Natalie Beazant), was inducted into the C-USA Hall of Fame in 2020 and the Rice Hall of Fame in