Owls To Welcome Three New Faces This Fall
8/9/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Aug. 9, 2006
HOUSTON -- The Rice men's tennis team will welcome Colorado transfer Tobias Scheil and freshmen Filip Paroci of Serbia and Montenegro, and Dennis Polyakov of League City, head coach Ron Smarr announced.
Scheil comes to Rice from the University of Colorado, which ended competition in men's tennis at the conclusion of the 2005-06 season. Scheil hails from Bad Abbach, Germany and sat out his first year with the Buffaloes. He brings a wealth of international experience, and was recruited by California, Southern California, Virginia and UCLA after the Buffs eliminated his sport.
Paroci is from Novi Sad, Serbia and Montenegro and also brings international experience to the team. Paroci is one of the top juniors that Serbia has produced in recent years, having won the national championships at every age group from 12s to 18s. He also won the national men's open a year ago. He chose Rice over Texas.
Polyakov attended Clear Creek High school, where he was a 2005 UIL 5A state semifinalist in singles. He is a tough competitor and push the upperclassmen for a starting position. Polyakov picked Rice over Iowa, Michigan State, Marquette and Purdue.
The 2006-07 season gets underway for the Owls Sept. 8-10 when they host the Courtyard by Marriott/Rice Invitational at the Jake Hess Tennis Stadium. Players from LSU, SMU and Tulsa be competing.
