Rice University
Rice Invite
Owls Begin Rice Fall Invite With Strong Start
9/30/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Sept. 30, 2011
54th Rice Fall Invite Day 1 Resuts
HOUSTON - Rice swept four doubles matches and won five of eight matches in singles play Friday as the Owls en route to a strong opening day at the 2011 Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites Medical Center Rice Fall Invite.
The four-team tournament which features Arkansas, LSU and Tulane continues through Sunday at the Jake Hess Tennis Stadium. Doubles play begins at 10 a.m. both Saturday and Sunday with singles action getting underway at 11 a.m.
In the Flight A singles draw, Peter Frank defeated Tulane's Shaye Wali 6-3, 6-4 while Sam Garforth-Bles posted a 7-5, 6-3 win over LSU's Mark Bowtell. Frank will take on LSU's Stefan Szacinski on Saturday. Garforth-Bles will play Arkansas' Greg Lehmann in semifinal action.
The Owls also dominated Flight B with a pair of straight set victories by Michael Nusslein and Phillip Seifert. Nusslein posted a 6-4, 6-4 win over Arkansas' Mike Ward and will face LSU's Chris Simpson in Saturday's semifinals. Seifert defeated LSU's Tom Knights 6-4, 6-3 and will play Arkansas' Manfried Jeske on Saturday.
Jonathan Chang won a Flight D match, defeating Tulane's Cedric Rutsaert 6-2, 6-2. Chang will play LSU's Matt Zachary on Saturday.
All four of the Owls' doubles teams advanced to the semifinals. Rice will have one replacement as Justin To had to withdraw from singles play because of an ankle sprain following an 8-3 doubles win with Isama Tachibana earlier in the day. Tachibana will team with Any Wang in a Flight A doubles match.
Lief Berger will compete in the Flight C consolation semifinals Saturday in To's slot.
Players Mentioned
