Saturday, April 8
Houston, Texas
11 AM
Rice University
4
vs
3
#34 UTSA
Photo by: RICE SID
Navarro Caps Comeback Over UTSA
4/8/2023 11:39:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Owls down #34 UTSA
Houston: Santiago Navarro keyed a late surge in doubles and then delivered the clinching point as No. 71 Rice downed 34th-ranked UTSA at the George R. Brown Tennis Center on Saturday.
Doubles: Dylan Heap and Kabeer Kapasi gave Rice the early edge with a win at the third line, but UTSA responded with a win at one, leaving the first to the second line where Navarro and Campbell Salmon were tied 5-5 against the Roadrunners Tomas Pinho and Sebastian Rodriguez. The Owls' tandem was able to break serve to take a 6-5 lead and then clinch the point by holding serve.
Singles: UTSA roared back from the loss in doubles to take five of six first sets in singles, with only Navarro's first-set tiebreaker preventing a clean sweep. But while the Roadrunners were able to take a 2-1 lead by closing out matches at the second and third lines, Rice rebounded to send the other three matches to third sets. UTSA took the first three-setter with a win at the sixth line and Navarro found himself in a third set as well. But Wes Barnett, who had dropped his first set 6-1, snapped the Roadrunners scoring streak with a win at the third line. Trinity Grear shook off his loss in a first set tiebreak at the first line to surge to a win, closing with a 6-0 win in his final set to tie the match 3-3. Navarro seemed in control in his third set, leading 5-2 over Pinho. But as happened in their doubles match, the outcome would once again be stretched to the limit, going to a tiebreaker. Pinoh took an early 3-2 lead but Navarro mustered one final rally to win 7-5 and deliver his sixth clinch point of the season.
Up Next: The Owls will host SMU next Saturday at noon in the annual Turpin Cup match and then wrap up the regular season by hosting UAB the following Tuesday at 5 p.m. for Senior Day.
Doubles: Dylan Heap and Kabeer Kapasi gave Rice the early edge with a win at the third line, but UTSA responded with a win at one, leaving the first to the second line where Navarro and Campbell Salmon were tied 5-5 against the Roadrunners Tomas Pinho and Sebastian Rodriguez. The Owls' tandem was able to break serve to take a 6-5 lead and then clinch the point by holding serve.
Singles: UTSA roared back from the loss in doubles to take five of six first sets in singles, with only Navarro's first-set tiebreaker preventing a clean sweep. But while the Roadrunners were able to take a 2-1 lead by closing out matches at the second and third lines, Rice rebounded to send the other three matches to third sets. UTSA took the first three-setter with a win at the sixth line and Navarro found himself in a third set as well. But Wes Barnett, who had dropped his first set 6-1, snapped the Roadrunners scoring streak with a win at the third line. Trinity Grear shook off his loss in a first set tiebreak at the first line to surge to a win, closing with a 6-0 win in his final set to tie the match 3-3. Navarro seemed in control in his third set, leading 5-2 over Pinho. But as happened in their doubles match, the outcome would once again be stretched to the limit, going to a tiebreaker. Pinoh took an early 3-2 lead but Navarro mustered one final rally to win 7-5 and deliver his sixth clinch point of the season.
Up Next: The Owls will host SMU next Saturday at noon in the annual Turpin Cup match and then wrap up the regular season by hosting UAB the following Tuesday at 5 p.m. for Senior Day.
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
3,1,2
#1 Singles Match
123
Tiago Torres / 0 [UTSA]
740
666
#2 Singles Match
12
Alan Magadan / 0 [UTSA]
66
43
#3 Singles Match
123
Sebastian Rodriguez / 0 [UTSA]
654
176
#4 Singles Match
123
Tomas Pinho / 0 [UTSA]
666
747
#5 Singles Match
12
Danijal Muminovic / 0 [UTSA]
76
51
#6 Singles Match
123
Jackson Ross / 0 [UTSA]
656
273
Order of Finish:
5,2,6,3,1,4
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
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