Rice University
Oklahoma
William & Mary, OU Winners at 46th Annual Rice Invitational
3/23/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
March 23, 2007
HOUSTON -- In the first day of the 46th Annual Rice Invitational, Oklahoma upset the host Owls 4-2 after William & Mary rallied against Middle Tennessee State to win a 4-3 thriller to open play on Friday at the Jake Hess tennis Stadium.
After faltering in doubles, the 24th-ranked Owls rallied back with a quick pair of singles wins to go up 2-1. Junior Ralph Knupfer upset No. 78 Andrei Daescu 6-4, 6-2 at two singles in the first match off the court. Junior Filip Zivojinovic quickly followed with his sweep of Sergey Avdeyev, a 6-4, 6-1 decision at six singles. The 52nd-ranked Sooners then stormed back with wins at five, one and four singles to secure the upset and claim their 13th win in their last 14 matches.
In a marathon match that last almost four and a half hours, No. 33 William & Mary overcame a 3-1 deficit to beat No. 39 Middle Tennessee State. The Blue Raiders opened strong, taking the doubles point and the first singles match. After splitting the next two matches off the court, the Tribe began its comeback. Alex Cojanu defeated MTSU's Marc Rocafort 6-4, 7-6 (8) at No. 2, then Alexander Zuck beat Morgan Richard 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 at No. 4 to knot the match score at 3-3.
Finally William & Mary freshman Keziel Juneau fought off a total of 11 match points against 113th-ranked Marco Born and prevailed 6-7 (5), 7-5, 7-6 (9) to hand the Tribe the win.
Tournament action continues at the Jake Hess Tennis Stadium on Saturday with MTSU and Oklahoma facing off at 9 am. Rice then takes the court against William & Mary at noon.
Results
No. 52 Oklahoma 4, No. 24 Rice 2
Doubles
1. Scheil/Knupfer (RU) vs. Daescu/Kucera (OU), DNF
2. Chavarria/McKenzie (OU) def. Mok/Müller (RU), 8-2
3. Velicka/Ryan Thomas (OU) def. Harknett/Zivojinovic (RU), 8-4
Singles
1. No. 83 Vaclav Kucera (OU) def. No. 28 Ben Harknett (RU), 6-4, 7-6 (5)
2. Ralph Knupfer (RU) def. No. 78 Andrei Daescu (OU), 6-4, 6-2
3. Christoph Müller (RU) vs. Marek Velicka (OU), DNF
4. Rob McKenzie (OU) def. Tobias Scheil (RU), 4-6, 7-5, 6-3
5. Federico Chavarria (OU) def. Jason Mok (RU), 6-2, 6-1
6. Filip Zivojinovic (RU) def. Sergey Avdeyev (OU), 6-4, 6-1
Order of Finish: D3, D2, S2, S6, S5, S1, S4
No. 33 William & Mary 4, No. 39 Middle Tennessee State 3
Doubles
1. No. 4 Born/Siljestrom (MTSU) def. No. 39 Cojanu/Juneau (WM) 8-6
2. Richard/Rocafort (MTSU) def. O'Brien/Wardell (WM) 8-6
3. Alexander Zuck/Kavi Sud (WM) def. Pailiello/Marc Boiron (MTSU) 8-3
Singles
1. No. 69 Andreas Siljestrom (MTSU) def. No. 99 Colin O'Brien (WM) 6-4, 2-6, 6-1
2. Alex Cojanu (WM) def. Marc Rocafort (MTSU) 6-4, 7-6 (8)
3. Keziel Juneau (WM) def. No. 113 Marco Born (MTSU) 6-7 (5), 7-5, 7-6 (9)
4. Alexander Zuck (WM) def. Morgan Richard (MTSU) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
5. Marwan Ramadan (WM) def. Alex McCann (MTSU) 6-2, 6-4
6. Joao Pailiello (MTSU) def. Richard Wardell (WM) 6-1, 6-2
Players Mentioned
