Rice University Athletics
Rice University
FGCU Spring Invite
Owls Finish Strongly at FGCU Invite
1/11/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
The Rice men's tennis team saved their strongest effort for the final day of action, splitting their scheduled Sunday matches including a pair of wins over ranked opponents to wrap up play at the 2015 Florida Gulf Coast Spring Invitational at the FGCU Tennis Complex in Naples, Florida.
The Owls split six singles matches with 45th ranked LSU and while splitting two doubles matches with both the Tigers and 37th ranked TCU.
Freshman Jamie Malik ran his weekend record to 3-1 in singles with a straight set win over LSU's Chris Simpson, who entered the tournament ranked 55th in the country. Malik outlasted Simpson in the first set, 7-5, then cruised to a 6-0 win in the clinching set. Two of his three wins over the weekend came against ranked opponents.
Senior Srikar Alla evened his weekend singles mark at 2-2 with a tight three-set win over the Tigers' 67th ranked Tam Trihn, 6-4, 7-5, 7-5. Both of Alla's wins during the tourney were three-set decisions over ranked opposition.
David Warren picked up the Owls' third singles win with a 6-2, 6-4 verdict over LSU's Simon Freund.
Munch and Yablon ran their 2014-15 doubles record to 7-3 with identical 6-4 wins over Andrew Korinek and Eric Perez of LSU and Andres Alfonzo and Austin Bates of host FGCU.
They were joined by David Warren and Gustavo Gonzalez in sweeping Saturday doubles action. Warren and Gonzalez downed John Michael Busch and Simon Freund LSU 6-4, then came back to drop FGCU's Michael Beiler and Lucas Vaz, 7-5.
The Owls, who were once again Adam Gustafsson and Max Andrews, dropped five of six singles matches. Jamie Malik ground out a three-set win over Ricky Ventura of FGCU, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to improve his weekend singles mark to 2-1.
The Owls were buoyed in doubles by the return of Max Andrews and Adam Gustafsson to action after both had missed time over the weekend with injuries. Andrews teamed with Warren to down Simpson and Trihn, 6-4, while Gustafsson paired with Gustavo Gonzalez to drop TCU's Blake Wiggins and Will Stein, 6-2.
Rice will open its dual campaign on Friday and usher in a new era when it christens the new George R. Brown Tennis Center with a match against UTSA. First serves are set for noon.
Players Mentioned
