Rice University Athletics
Rice University
Rice Fall Invitational
Munch Leads Owls in Invite Opener
9/19/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Sophomore Henrik Munch bounced back from a second set loss to win a decisive tiebreaker and upset fourth seeded Naoki Takeda of Arizona to highlight efforts by the Owls on the opening day of Rice Fall Invitational.
Play in the event, which features entries from 11 teams, was moved inside for the opening matches, but play was able to return to Jake Hess Tennis Stadium for the final matches in the opening round of singles. Munch's win was one of five in six opening singles matches for the Owls, including two others requiring a tiebreaker set.
The sophomore from Geneva, Switzerland took the opening set against Takeda 6-1, but saw the Wildcat junior bounce back to take the second 6-2. Munch earned the advancement by taking the tiebreaker 10-5 and will face Linus Erhart of Nebraska on Saturday morning.
Fellow sophomores David Warren and Max Andrews matched Munch by needing a third set to advance. Warren dropped his opening set to Nichols State's Kieran Cronin, but rebounded to win the second 6-0 and the tiebreak 10-4. Andrews started slowly, dropping the opening set 6-1 to Texas Tech's Connor Curry. He evened the match with a 6-2 win in the second and then captured the match with a 10-3 count in the tiebreak.
Freshman Jamie Malik, who is seeded third, made a successful collegiate debut with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Jett Cash of Texas A&M. He will face Alex Buzelan of Texas Tech in the second round on Saturday morning.
Junior Adam Gustafsson closed out the first day success for the Owls with a straight-set win over Carlos Bermudez of Arizona.
Play will continue on a busy Saturday morning at Jake Hess, weather permitting. The opening round of doubles is scheduled for 8:30 a.m., immediately followed by second round play in singles and the opening round of singles consolation play.
Players Mentioned
