Rice University
USF
Owls, Raiders Stay Undefeated at Rice Invitational
3/25/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
March 25, 2006
HOUSTON -- Rice and Texas Tech stayed undefeated at the 48th Annual Hyatt Regency Downtown/Rice Invitational as the Owls dropped South Florida and the Red Raiders beat Purdue, both 6-1, on Saturday at the Jake Hess Tennis Stadium.
With the Bulls playing a man short due to an injury on Friday, the Owls had a 1-0 lead before the match even began. Rice's 50th-ranked senior tandem of Tony Haerle and Robert Searle clinched the doubles point with their 9-7 win against Marc Jaeger and Dillon Brozyna at the top spot, giving the Owls a 2-0 lead heading into singles.
Sophomore Ralph Knupfer made the score 3-0 as he defeated Jaeger 6-2, 6-2 at the number-three singles position. Haerle then clinched the team victory as he downed Brozyna 6-2, 6-3 at four.
Searle added to Rice's total as he beat Frederico Barton 6-2, 6-1 at the top spot, then junior Ben Harknett wrapped up the Owl scoring at number two. After splitting the first two sets, Harknett won a tough super-tiebreak 12-10 for the victory.
The Raiders also had a commanding win in the first match of the day. After taking the doubles point, Tech won at the one through five singles positions with Michael Breler clinching at four with a 7-6, 6-3 victory against Jarred Leiber.
Rice, ranked 47th, and Texas Tech, ranked 37th, face off on Sunday at 12 noon at the Jake Hess Tennis Stadium to decide the 2006 champion of the Rice Invitational. South Florida and Purdue begin tournament action with their match at 9 am.
Results
No. 47 Rice 6, South Florida 1
Doubles
1. No. 50 Searle/Haerle (RU) def. Jaeger/Brozyna (USF), 9-7
2. Knupfer/Zivojinovic (RU) vs. Barragan/Barton (USF), DNF
3. Harknett/Müller (RU), DNP
Singles
1. No. 35 Robert Searle (RU) def. Frederico Barton (USF), 6-2, 6-1
2. Ben Harknett (RU) def. Marc Jaeger (USF), 6-2, 2-6, 1-0 (10)
3. Ralph Knupfer (RU) def. Juan Barragan (USF), 6-2, 6-2
* 4. Tony Haerle (RU) def. Dillon Brozyna (USF) , 6-2, 6-3
5. Mark Gattiker (USF) def. Christoph Müller (RU), 6-1, 5-7 1-0 (7)
6. Filip Zivojinovic (RU), DNP
No. 37 Texas Tech 6, No. 73 Purdue 1
Doubles
1. Prpic/Rojmar (TTU) def. Hodgman/Mabatah (PUR), 8-6
2. Martinez/Breler (TTU) vs. Foster/Zaske (PUR), DNF
3. DiBlasi/Markovic (TTU) def. Leibner/Warner (PUR), 8-2
Singles
1. #112 Adrian Prpic (TTU) def. Colin Foster (PUR), 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
2. Dimitrio Martinez (TTU) def. Eric Hodgman (PUR), 6-4, 7-6
3. Christian Rojmar (TTU) def. Kelubia Mabatah (PUR), 6-3, 6-1
* 4. Michael Breler (TTU) def. Jarred Leibner (PUR), 7-6, 6-3
5. Sinisa Markovic (TTU) def. Kurt Zaske (PUR), 6-3, 6-2
6. Scott Warner (PUR) def. Teddy DiBlasi (TTU), 7-6, 1-6, 6-3
Players Mentioned
