Rice University
Louisiana
Rice Downs ULL 4-1, Advance to NCAA Second Round
5/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
May 13, 2006
AUSTIN -- The Rice men eliminated Louisiana-Lafayette from the 2006 NCAA Men's Tennis Championships with a 4-1 first-round victory on Saturday in Austin.
The win sets up a second-round rematch with host and third-ranked Texas on Sunday at 1 pm. The Owls upset the Longhorns in Houston last month with a 5-2 win. Texas, though, has won the teams' meetings in the 2003 and 2005 NCAA championships.
The Owls jumped on top in doubles with a pair of 8-4 wins at the one and three positions to claim the point. Tony Haerle and Jason Mok struck first at three against Arlen Domoney and Evghenii Corduneanu, then Ralph Knupfer and Filip Zivojinovic secured the point against Amanjot Singh and Dusan Tabak.
Rice surged ahead 3-0 to start singles. Zivojinovic beat Tabak 6-3, 6-4 at four while Mok dominated Shaun Ellison in a 6-2, 6-0 win at six. The Ragin' Cajuns then got on the scoreboard with a win at the top spot to make the score 3-1. The Owls' Christoph Müller clinched the team victory at the five position, hanging a 7-5, 7-5 loss on Shaun Ellison.
"We played well today, that's a tough team (Louisiana-Lafayette) we played out there today," noted Rice head coach Ron Smarr. "We were missing (Robert) Searle, and Ralph (Knupfer) and Filip (Zivojinovic) have been ill. So, in that respect, this was one of our best wins."
The win improves Rice's record to 19-7 overall and marks the third time in four seasons the Owls have advanced to second-round NCAA action.
Results
No. 29 Rice 4, No. 35 Louisiana-Lafayette 1
Doubles
1. Knupfer/Zivojinovic (RU) def. Singh/Tabak (ULL), 8-4
2. Ley/Ellison (ULL) vs. Harknett/Müller (RU), 7-4, DNF
3. Mok/Haerle (RU) def. Domoney/Corduneanu (ULL), 8-4
Singles
1. No. 122 Amanjot Singh (ULL) def. Ben Harknett (RU), 7-5, 6-2
2. No. 79 Ralph Knupfer (RU) vs. No. 84 Evghenii Corduneanu (ULL), 7-6, 0-1, DNF
3. Robin Ley (ULL) vs. Tony Haerle (RU), 6-3, 5-5, DNF
4. Filip Zivojinovic (RU) def. Dusan Tabak (ULL), 6-3, 6-4
*5. Christoph Müller (RU) def. Shaun Ellison (ULL), 7-5, 7-5
6. Jason Mok (RU) def. Matt Turong (ULL), 6-2, 6-0
Order of finish: D3, D1, S4, S6, S1, S5*
Players Mentioned
