Marshall University’s tennis team dropped its Conference USA opener to 29th-ranked Rice University Sunday, 4-3, at the Huntington Tennis Club.

Head coach John Mercer said he thought his team played tough but was outperformed by Rice.

“For the most part we played well,” Mercer said in a news release. “There were some errors today but give Rice credit. They’re a good team and deserved to win this one.”

Juniors Derya Turhan and Rachael Morales earned a doubles win for the Herd.

Turhan, Morales and sophomore Maddie Silver won singles matches for Marshall.

The Herd dropped to 4-5 overall (0-1 C-USA) with the loss. Rice improved to 5-2, 1-0 C-USA with the win.

Despite losing its first conference match of the season, Mercer said the Herd has to get over the loss quickly.

“We just have to keep practicing and get ready for Penn State next week,” Mercer said.

Marshall hits the road for one match Sunday as it travels to Pennsylvania State University for an 11 a.m. start.

The Nittany Lions are 2-4 this season, coming off its latest 7-0 loss to Columbia University Saturday.