Wednesday, March 11
Houston, TX
Noon
Rice University
vs
#7 TCU
Familiar Foes Up Next For Men's Tennis
3/10/2020 2:03:00 PM | Men's Tennis
TCU and Middle Tennessee
In Brief: The Rice men's tennis returns to the George R. Brown Tennis Center this week to take on a familiar rival in addition opening the first of six matches against Conference USA teams when the Owls host #7 TCU at noon on Wednesday and #41 Middle Tennessee at 5 p.m. on Friday at the George R. Brown Tennis Center.
Green Out Game: Friday's match with MTSU is part of Conference USA's Mental Health Awareness Initiative. Launched during the 2019-20 academic year as a collaboration between Conference USA and the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) at each member institution, "Green Out" games support mental health awareness. C-USA encourages all to stand up to the stigma and continue the conversation, including using the hashtag #ContinueTheConversation on social media.
Video and Results: TCU & Middle Tennessee Scores / Video
TCU: The Horned Frogs are 11-4 and are currently ranked seventh in the Oracle/ITA rankings. They come to town riding an eight-match winning streak since dropping a 4-2 decision to #1 USC at the ITA Indoor Nationals in February. Two of their four losses this season have come to teams who were ranked #1 at the time of the match (lost 6-1 to North Carolina in early November). TCU and Rice have an extensive history in dual competition with the Horned Frogs holding a 35-13 lead in the series since 1974. TCU has won the last five in a series defined by long winning streaks. Rice broke an 18-match TCU streak with a win in 1990 and won the next eight matches before TCU began the latest streak with a 4-3 win at Jake Hess in 2013. This will be the second time they schools have met at GRBTC, but the first meeting was forced indoors by rain in 2015.
Ranked Players:
Doubles: 27. Alistair Gray & Jacob Fearnley (TCU); 55. Sander Jong & Tadeas Paroulek (TCU)
Singles: 30. Alistair Gray (TCU); 77. Luc Fromba (TCU); 105. Tadeas Paroulek (TCU); 119. Jacob Fearnley (TCU)
Middle Tennessee: The Blue Raiders, who captured their first Conference USA title last April, are 13-5 on the season (1-0 in C-USA) and ranked 41st in the latest Oracle/ITA rankings. They dropped a 4-1 decision at #23 Princeton in their last match on March 1. This will be the 12th meeting between the schools since 1995 and the Blue Raiders have edged in front on the series (6-5) thanks to wins in the last three matches. The Owls last win in the series came in the semifinals of the 2017 Conference USA Championship as Rice went on to defend its C-USA title the next day vs. Old Dominion.
Owls Notables:
The Schedule: The Owls' remaining schedule features three teams currently in the Oracle/ITA national rankings: @#21 Miami, 3/17; 3/27; #45 Denver and #48 VCU 3/27, and @#47Tulane, 4/12 ). The Owls also take on six Conference USA schools (Charlotte, FAU, MTSU, Southern Miss, UAB and UTSA) in the regular season for the first time since Rice joined the conference in 2005. Rice has already faced #3 Texas, #10 Texas A&M, #17 Harvard and #29 Dartmouth.
Next Up: The Owls travel to Florida during Spring Break to face #21 Miami (March 17) and FAU (March 19) before returning home to host the 62nd Ralph O'Connor Rice Invitational, presented by the Texas Tamale Company, March 27-29.
Follow the Action: For the most up-to-date information on Rice Tennis follow the Owls on Twitter @RiceTennis or Instagram @ricewtennis or like Rice Men's Tennis on Facebook.
Green Out Game: Friday's match with MTSU is part of Conference USA's Mental Health Awareness Initiative. Launched during the 2019-20 academic year as a collaboration between Conference USA and the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) at each member institution, "Green Out" games support mental health awareness. C-USA encourages all to stand up to the stigma and continue the conversation, including using the hashtag #ContinueTheConversation on social media.
Video and Results: TCU & Middle Tennessee Scores / Video
TCU: The Horned Frogs are 11-4 and are currently ranked seventh in the Oracle/ITA rankings. They come to town riding an eight-match winning streak since dropping a 4-2 decision to #1 USC at the ITA Indoor Nationals in February. Two of their four losses this season have come to teams who were ranked #1 at the time of the match (lost 6-1 to North Carolina in early November). TCU and Rice have an extensive history in dual competition with the Horned Frogs holding a 35-13 lead in the series since 1974. TCU has won the last five in a series defined by long winning streaks. Rice broke an 18-match TCU streak with a win in 1990 and won the next eight matches before TCU began the latest streak with a 4-3 win at Jake Hess in 2013. This will be the second time they schools have met at GRBTC, but the first meeting was forced indoors by rain in 2015.
Ranked Players:
Doubles: 27. Alistair Gray & Jacob Fearnley (TCU); 55. Sander Jong & Tadeas Paroulek (TCU)
Singles: 30. Alistair Gray (TCU); 77. Luc Fromba (TCU); 105. Tadeas Paroulek (TCU); 119. Jacob Fearnley (TCU)
Middle Tennessee: The Blue Raiders, who captured their first Conference USA title last April, are 13-5 on the season (1-0 in C-USA) and ranked 41st in the latest Oracle/ITA rankings. They dropped a 4-1 decision at #23 Princeton in their last match on March 1. This will be the 12th meeting between the schools since 1995 and the Blue Raiders have edged in front on the series (6-5) thanks to wins in the last three matches. The Owls last win in the series came in the semifinals of the 2017 Conference USA Championship as Rice went on to defend its C-USA title the next day vs. Old Dominion.
Owls Notables:
- Rice is 4-4 at home and 0-3 on the road in 2020.
- Rice is 5-6 so far this year in the doubles point (4-1 when winning the point).
- The Owls are 2-8 so far in singles tiebreakers, 2-2 in supersets; 2-0 in doubles tiebreaks.
- Clinch points: Jacob Eskeland 2, Adam Oscislawski & Campbell Salmon 1.
The Schedule: The Owls' remaining schedule features three teams currently in the Oracle/ITA national rankings: @#21 Miami, 3/17; 3/27; #45 Denver and #48 VCU 3/27, and @#47Tulane, 4/12 ). The Owls also take on six Conference USA schools (Charlotte, FAU, MTSU, Southern Miss, UAB and UTSA) in the regular season for the first time since Rice joined the conference in 2005. Rice has already faced #3 Texas, #10 Texas A&M, #17 Harvard and #29 Dartmouth.
Next Up: The Owls travel to Florida during Spring Break to face #21 Miami (March 17) and FAU (March 19) before returning home to host the 62nd Ralph O'Connor Rice Invitational, presented by the Texas Tamale Company, March 27-29.
Follow the Action: For the most up-to-date information on Rice Tennis follow the Owls on Twitter @RiceTennis or Instagram @ricewtennis or like Rice Men's Tennis on Facebook.
Players Mentioned
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