Friday, April 21
Houston, Texas
Noon
Rice University
3
vs
4
UAB
Photo by: Maria Lysaker - Rice Athletics
Owls Rally Foiled by Blazers
4/21/2023 6:25:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Season ends at 12-10
Houston: UAB and Rice battled for over four hours before the Blazers held off a spirited final rally by Rice to take a 4-3 win and advance to the semifinals of the 2023 Conference USA Men's Tennis Championship.
Doubles: As has been the case throughout the season, Rice took the early advantage by winning the doubles point for the 17th time in 22 matches. Wes Barnett and Trinity Grear improved to 12-7 on the season (9-5 at the first line) by winning for the eighth time in their last 10 decisions to give Rice the early advantage and Santiago Navarro and Campbell Salmon followed shortly after with their eighth straight win in doubles to clinch the opening point. Rice completed the season with a combined 37-16 record in doubles during the dual season.
Singles: UAB took four of six first sets in singles, two of them in tiebreakers to set the tone for the rest of the day. Navarro cruised to a win at the fourth line (6-2, 6-4), and fellow freshman Kabeer Kapasi rolled through his second set after taking the first in a tiebreak (7-6, 6-0) to put Rice within one point of advancing to Saturday's semifinals. But the Blazers carved out wins at the first, fifth, and third lines to tie the match and appeared to be sailing into a Saturday meeting with top-seeded Middle Tennessee, but Emir Sendogan began an improbable rally by winning a deciding point down 5-0. He ripped through the next four games to tie the deciding match 5-5, the rally was stalled when UAB's Roman Postolka held serve at 5-5 and then closed out the match with a service break.
Doubles: As has been the case throughout the season, Rice took the early advantage by winning the doubles point for the 17th time in 22 matches. Wes Barnett and Trinity Grear improved to 12-7 on the season (9-5 at the first line) by winning for the eighth time in their last 10 decisions to give Rice the early advantage and Santiago Navarro and Campbell Salmon followed shortly after with their eighth straight win in doubles to clinch the opening point. Rice completed the season with a combined 37-16 record in doubles during the dual season.
Singles: UAB took four of six first sets in singles, two of them in tiebreakers to set the tone for the rest of the day. Navarro cruised to a win at the fourth line (6-2, 6-4), and fellow freshman Kabeer Kapasi rolled through his second set after taking the first in a tiebreak (7-6, 6-0) to put Rice within one point of advancing to Saturday's semifinals. But the Blazers carved out wins at the first, fifth, and third lines to tie the match and appeared to be sailing into a Saturday meeting with top-seeded Middle Tennessee, but Emir Sendogan began an improbable rally by winning a deciding point down 5-0. He ripped through the next four games to tie the deciding match 5-5, the rally was stalled when UAB's Roman Postolka held serve at 5-5 and then closed out the match with a service break.
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
1,3
#1 Singles Match
123
Michal Lusovsky / 0 [UAB]
646
364
#2 Singles Match
123
Roman Postolka / 0 [UAB]
667
375
#3 Singles Match
123
Vojtech Podzemny / 0 [UAB]
746
662
#4 Singles Match
12
Noah Malige / 0 [UAB]
24
66
#5 Singles Match
12
Carlos Gimenez-Perez / 0 [UAB]
75
64
#6 Singles Match
12
Georgios Nouchakis / 0 [UAB]
60
76
Order of Finish:
4,6,1,5,3,2
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
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