Rice University
Texas
Horns Drop Owls, 5-2
1/21/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Jan. 21, 2012
The Rice Owls men's tennis team opened a weekend of action against nationally-ranked opponents, falling to the 19th ranked Texas Longhorns 5-2 at the MET in downtown Houston on Friday Night.
Prior to the match, both the Owls (2-1) and Longhorns (2-0) saluted retiring Rice head coach Ron Smarr on becoming college tennis' career wins lead. Texas then moved quickly to ensure that his record total would not increase on this night.
The Horns quickly grabbed the doubles point with wins at 1 & 2 by 8-2 scores, but Rice's #3 duo of senior Sam Garforth-Bles and freshman Leif Berger proved to be more difficult. The pair took a 4-2 lead and extended the match against Jacoby Lewis and Sudanwa Sitaram to a tie-breaker, before falling 8-7.
The six singles matches showcased tight sets throughout the lineup, but the Longhorns closed the match out four singles wins before senior Michael Nuesslein and junior Jonathan Chang put the Owls on the scoreboard with hard-fought wins.
Nuesslein, fell behind in both sets before coming back twice to down Joey Swaysland, 6-4, 6-4. Chang cruised to a 6-2 opening set win over Texas' David Holiner, only to drop the second set 7-5 and force a third-set, tie-breaker. Chang hung in the decisive stanza, winning 10-8 to close out the match.
The Owls will close out the weekend by hosting] 33rd ranked LSU on Sunday afternoon at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium. First serve is set for 1 p.m. The first 50 fans in attendance will receive Rice Tennis T-shirts. Pizza will also be served to all fans in attendance while supplies last.
Players Mentioned
