Rice University
Texas A&M Corpus Christi
Owls Battle Back to Outlast Islanders, 4-3
3/21/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
March 21, 2009
a href=" http://riceowls.cstv.com/sports/m-tennis/spec-rel/galleria-2009.html ">Tournament Central Page.
The 36th-ranked Rice Owls men's tennis team battled back from a setback in doubles to take a tough, 4-3 decision over 39th-ranked Texas A&M Corpus Christi to close out the second day of the 51st annual Hampton Inn Galleria Rice Invitational on Saturday afternoon.
The outcome was finally decided over four hours after it began when senior Christoph Müller downed the Islanders' Dmitry Novikov, taking the third set 6-1 after the two had split hard-fought 6-4 sets in the first two.
The victory by the Owls sets up a showdown with 38th-ranked San Diego State, who won its second consecutive match of the tournament by blanking Texas Pan American, 4-0 on Saturday morning.
Müller and Tobias Scheil won their doubles match, but the Islanders stormed back to win the other two doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead. Bruno Rosa evened the score, winning in straight sets at No. 1 singles (6-0, 6-4). The Islanders grabbed a 2-1 lead with a win at No. 3 singles, but Isamu Tachibana drew the Owls even with a straight-set win at No. 5 (6-4, 6-4) and Dennis Polyakov gave Rice a 3-2 lead with a win at No. 6 (6-0, 7-6). However, the Islanders again tied it up when Jose Zunino took a three-set decision over Scheil, who battled back from a 5-2 deficit in the final set to force a tie-breaker.
That set the stage for Müller's match with Novikov. After two intense sets, the senior from Karlsruhe, Germany blitzed through the final set, winning 6-1 to give the Owls the win.
Texas A&M Corpus Christi (5-6) will meet Texas Pan American (3-10) at 9 a.m. on Sunday in the first match of the final day of the Rice Invitational. Rice (12-6) and San Diego State (10-6) will square off in the championship match at noon at the Jake Hess Tennis Stadium.
Tennis Match Results
Texas A&M Corpus Christi vs Rice
3/21/2009 at Houston, Texas
(Jake Hess Tennis Stadium)
#36 Rice 4, #39 Texas A&M Corpus Christi 3
Singles competition
1. Bruno Rosa (RICE) def. Mikhail Pavlov (TAMUCCM) 6-0, 6-4
2. Christoph Müller (RICE) def. Dmitry Novikov (TAMUCCM) 6-4, 4-6, 6-1
3. Laurent Montoisy (TAMUCCM) def. Sam Garforth-Bles (RICE) 6-4, 6-3
4. Jose Zunino (TAMUCCM) def. Tobias Scheil (RICE) 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-4)
5. Isamu Tachibana (RICE) def. Jaume Farras (TAMUCCM) 6-4, 6-4
6. Dennis Polyakov (RICE) def. James Langford (TAMUCCM) 6-0, 7-6 (7-3)
Doubles competition
1. Christoph Müller/Tobias Scheil (RICE) def. Mikhail Pavlov/Dmitry Novikov (TAMUCCM) 8-3
2. Jose Zunino/Laurent Montoisy (TAMUCCM) def. Bruno Rosa/Isamu Tachibana (RICE) 9-8 (7-5)
3. David Pace/James Langford (TAMUCCM) def. Christian Saravia/Dennis Polyakov (RICE) 8-3
Players Mentioned
