Rice University
Tulsa
Rice Falls to Tulsa, 5-2
4/5/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 5, 2009
Freshmen Isamu Tachibana and Christian Saravia picked up wins, but the 29th-ranked Tulsa Golden Hurricane sent their seniors out in style, downing Rice 5-2 on Senior Day at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa on Sunday.
Tulsa moved to 17-8 (3-0 C-USA) while Rice fell to 13-9 (2-1).
The two teams staged a furious battle for the doubles point to open the match. After Tulsa captured the No. 3 match, 8-6, Rice's 52nd-ranked pairing of Christoph Müller and Tobias Scheil defeated Tulsa's 54th-ranked duo of James Seagraves and Alberto Sottocorno by an 8-6 score. Tulsa then took the No. 2 match to grab the doubles point.
Tachibana ran his season record to 16-2, with a 7-5, 7-5 win at No. 5 singles. The win was his seventh straight this season. Saravia briefly knotted the score at 1-1, winning his No. 6 singles match in straight sets after Tulsa opened things by taking the doubles point.
The Owls will celebrate their own Senior Day this Saturday when they host SMU at 1 p.m.
No. 29 Tulsa 5, No. 35 Rice 2
Singles (Finish: 6, 4, 2, 1, 5, 3)
1. #2 Arnau Brugues (TLS) def. #48 Christoph Muller (RICE) 6-3, 6-4
2. Philip Stephens (TLS) def. #46 Bruno Rosa (RICE) 6-3, 6-4
3. Alberto Sottocorno (TLS) def. Tobias Scheil (RICE) 6-7, 6-4, 1-0 (10-6)
4. Ashley Watling (TLS) def. Sam Garforth-Bles (RICE) 6-4, 7-5
5. Isamu Tachibana (RICE) def. Marko Ballok (TLS) 7-5, 7-5
6. Christian Saravia (RICE) def. James Seagraves (TLS) 6-3, 6-4
Doubles (Finish: 3, 1, 2)
1. #52 Muller/Scheil (RICE) def. #54 Seagraves/Sottocorno (TLS), 8-6
2. Stephens/Watling (TLS) def. Rosa/Tachibana (RICE), 8-5
3. Ballok/Brugues (TLS) def. Garforth-Bles/Saravia (RICE), 8-6
Players Mentioned
