Rice University
UC Irvine
Garforth-Bles' 50th Highlights Owls' Win Over Anteaters
2/28/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Feb. 28, 2012
Rice senior Sam Garforth-Bles won his 50th career dual singles match, outlasting Cal-Irvine's Sam Gould 7-6, 7-5 to highlight a 6-1 Owls win over the Anteaters at San Diego State Tennis Stadium on Tuesday afternoon.
"That probably was one of our better overall matches we have played this year," Rice head coach Ron Smarr said. "We played well in doubles, but really competed hard once singles started."
Smarr had special praise for Garforth-Bles, who combined with freshman Leif Berger for a win at No. 3 doubles before picking up the win in singles to close the match.
"Sam always fights like crazy and today was no different," Smarr said. "He had to battle to win the tie breaker in the first set and then was down a break early in the second, but kept coming back. He's earned every one of those 50 wins and I was happy to hear that about his achievement."
Garforth-Bles and Gould extended their first set to a tie breaker that required 22 games before Garforth-Bles prevailed 12-10. The second set was more of the same as the two were tied 5-5 before the senior from Bragg Creek, Alberta broke through to win the final two games and close out the match.
"It (50th win) was not something I was aware of, but it's a pretty nice milestone to have reached," Garforth-Bles said. "I'm sure it's something that will mean more as time goes on and I have a chance to think about it. But the thing that was really great about today was the way we came out and took control of the match from the start. After not playing a match for almost three weeks, it was great to see us come out and play so well," he added.
Playing their first match in 17 days, the Owls showed little rust during the opening doubles competition. They grabbed the match's first point with wins at No. 3 and No. 1 and then quickly raced to wins at 4, 5 and 6 in singles to clinch the match. Junior Jonathan Chang was victorious in his first appearance at No. 2 singles to extend the lead to 5-1, leaving the final point to Garforth-Bles.
The UCI dual match opened a slate of action for the Owls in San Diego which also includes a dual with Loyola Marymount on Thursday morning and the 123th Pacific Coast Doubles Championships from Thursday through Sunday.
The match with LMU will take place on Thursday morning at the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, which is also the host for the doubles championships.
The Owls will be back in action at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium a week from Saturday, when they host 25th ranked San Diego in a 1 p.m. dual match.
