VOLUME 110, ISSUE NO. 26 | STUDENT-RUN SINCE 1916 | RICETHRESHER.ORG | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2026
Women’s tennis secures first American title RSA calls for administration to create a Beer Bike Committee
PRASANNA BENDALAM
THRESHER STAFF
The Rice women’s tennis team won its first American Conference Championship on Sunday, defeating Wichita State University 4-2 at the George R. Brown Tennis Center and securing an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. The victory came down to the final point on the final court as junior Divna Ratkovic delivered the clinching point on court two, defeating Giorgia Roselli in three sets. Ratkovic was named American Conference Most Outstanding Player. The conference tournament ran from April 17 to 19, with Rice winning its opening matches before reaching Sunday’s final. Following their opening match on Friday, head coach Elizabeth Schmidt said she appreciated the team’s ability to stay grounded despite difficult conditions. “I thought we played tough,” Schmidt said. “The wind made it tricky, but we kept our composure, put our heads down and went to work.” On Sunday, Rice dropped the doubles point after a narrow tiebreak loss on court three. Wichita State extended the lead to 2-0 when senior Darya Schwartzman fell 6-3, 6-0. Sophomore Francesca Maguina and freshman Ema Mravcova each won in straight sets to even the match at 2-2. Mravcova said the energy from her teammates during a firstset tiebreak made a difference. “A lot of my teammates came at that time and I felt how they were cheering for me,” Mravcova said. “It really helped me.” Schmidt credited the full roster for the comeback. “I think everyone just kept chipping away,” Schmidt said on Friday. “It was a total team effort.” Schmidt said the team stayed composed after falling behind. “We didn’t panic,” Schmidt said. “We trusted ourselves and kept doing what we needed to do.” Playing at home also helped the team. “It’s awesome,” Schmidt said. “We love playing at home. The crowd really helps us and it’s fun to represent Rice here.” The title is Rice’s first since 2019 and its first in the American Conference.
TOBY CHOU
ASST. NEWS EDITOR
RICHARD LI /THRESHER Junior Divna Ratkovic serves the ball. Ratkovic won the clinching point to win the first American Conference Championship for the women’s tennis team on Sunday.
Responding to student concerns about the relocation of the Beer Bike track, Rice Student Association President Chelsea Asibbey introduced Senate Resolution No. 2, which would urge Rice University to create a Beer Bike Committee. Asibbey said the committee would be filled with students in Rice Program Council as well as former bikers and chuggers. She said this is because they have a vested interest to be part of an advisory committee in close communication with administration. “In this resolution, it’s basically talking about the relocation of the track and how significant it is, but it also encourages the fact that big decisions like this should not be happening without student oversight,” Asibbey said during Monday’s senate meeting. Asibbey said while the RSA cannot force administration to create the committee, Dean of Undergraduates Bridget Gorman was receptive to students voicing their concerns. This week, External Vice President Rohan Dharia brought his snack pantry resolution back to the Senate floor with new updates from Housing and Dining. The resolution would establish snack pantries in each residential college — to be overseen by a selected manager — to address the lack of late night dining options on campus.
SEE SENATE PAGE 3
First students accepted to Rice’s conducting major CORA WAREH
THRESHER STAFF Many Owls treat their undergraduate degree as a prelude, planning to attend medical, law or graduate school after. For students who want to become orchestral conductors, it’s similar. Just like you can’t major in premed, there’s no such thing as an orchestral conducting major — at least, not outside Rice’s hedges. “When I was appointed here, it was in my vision to have this degree,” said Miguel Harth-Bedoya, the distinguished resident director of orchestras and professor of conducting at the Shepherd School of Music since 2024. The realization of this vision is unique to Rice: No other American university has an orchestral conducting major. But this spring, the first students were accepted to study under Harth-Bedoya. One of these students is Marcel González, who matriculated in 2025 and is also studying anthropology. “I was not planning to come to Rice, honestly,” said González, a Wiess College freshman. A friend told González about Rice’s conducting major before it was officially
announced, and he emailed HarthBedoya to find out more. What he learned on his campus visit was convincing.
Miguel [was the] first person to tell me, ‘You can do this. Like you’re still young, this is a career opportunity for you.’ So I really did drop all of my plans. Marcel González WIESS COLLEGE FRESHMAN
“Everyone before [Harth-Bedoya] had said, ‘No, you don’t have the background, you don’t have the training, you’re already late, you can’t hop on this train,’” González said. “Miguel [was the] first person to tell me, ‘You can do this.’ Like, you’re still young, this is a career opportunity for you. So I really did drop all of my plans.” Despite both of his parents being classically trained musicians, González
said he initially saw music as more of an extracurricular. Then, in high school, he fell in love with conducting. “I really got into the recordings scheme, listening to recordings of the same piece but with a million different orchestras and different conductors, seeing how they’re realized in each way,” González said. To González, music is a mutable art form. Compared to paintings, music is “actually very vague.” “It only tells you what notes to play and what time to play them,” González said. “And everything else is something that, you have to reenact the art in the moment and you create the experience for yourself. Which is wonderful.” While he enjoys popular music, he wouldn’t call it his “obsession” in the same way as classical music, which he struggles to relegate to the background. “For as long as I can remember, I can’t work and listen to music, because then I get distracted by the music. Listening for me is something that has to take all of my attention.” Harth-Bedoya also believes that listening is a major part of being a conductor: While musicians split their
attention between the instrument they’re playing and the larger piece that they’re a part of, the conductor doesn’t have to. “The conductor is the only person that has both ears available to listen to everybody,” Harth-Bedoya said. What makes a good conductor? HarthBedoya looks for three things: passion, assertiveness and curiosity. “You cannot not give directions, because you have 50, 80, 100 people waiting for you to make a decision,” Harth-Bedoya said. “So it has to be somebody with that feel of, ‘I can lead others.’” He likens the conductor to a football coach, who does most of their work during practices and only gets one game. “[The musicians] have to play the game. I’m just there to cheer them up and to guide them and to connect the music with the audience as well.” Harth-Bedoya takes pride in the fact that Rice’s music students come from a wide range of other disciplines. This includes González, who said he hasn’t been actively looking for ways to combine his two majors, but likes them for a similar reason.
SEE CONDUCTING PAGE 11