Rice University
Presbyterian
Men's Tennis On the Road to Face Presbyterian and Charlotte
3/29/2024 10:30:00 AM | Men's Tennis
In Brief: Rice men's tennis returns to the road for a pair of matches in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Owls will face off against Presbyterian in a neutral match on Saturday, March 30, at 2 p.m. (CT) before taking on No. 70 Charlotte on Sunday, March 31, at 11 a.m. (CT).
The Schedule: Saturday - vs. Presbyterian - 2 p.m. (CT) - Charlotte, North Carolina | Sunday - at Charlotte - 11 a.m. CT
Match Info: The Owls will face off against both teams at the Halton-Wagner Tennis Complex in Charlotte, North Carolina. Live results for Rice's match against the 49ers on Sunday will be provided via Charlotte athletics.
The Owls: Rice is currently riding a six-match winning streak and is ranked 51st in the nation. The Owls went 3-0 at home last week, starting off the week with a 7-0 win over Dartmouth featuring straight-set victories at five of six positions in singles play. Rice then posted a pair of 4-0 victories over Wichita State and UAB to win the Ralph O'Connor Rice Invitational for the second year in a row. On the week, sophomore Kabeer Kapasi led the Owls with three victories in both singles and doubles play. Senior Yasha Zemel posted three doubles wins and a pair of singles victories, all at the top spots in the lineup, and was named the AAC Men's Tennis Player of the Week. Freshman Petro Kuzmenok also recorded three singles wins and one doubles victory. Senior Trinity Grear registered two wins in singles play plus a doubles win. Juniors Arthus de la Bassetiere and Eduardo Morais each won a pair of doubles matches, with de la Bassetiere also adding a win in singles play. Junior Emir Sendogan also recorded one singles win for the week.
The Opposition: Rice and Presbyterian will meet for the first time on Saturday. Members of the Big South Conference, the Blue Hose are 6-8 this season, including wins over Longwood, Queens and Tennessee Tech. The Owls have faced only one current Big South opponent in program history, defeating Radford, 4-2, on March 15, 2013, in Houston.
The Owls are 4-2 all-time against the 49ers, but have lost the previous two meetings. Charlotte won the most recent matchup, 4-3, in Norfolk, Virginia, in April of 2022, and picked up a 5-2 win in Houston in March of 2022. Rice earned a 6-1 win in the inaugural matchup in Charlotte on March 5, 1998, before claiming three neutral-site victories in the series. This season, the 49ers are ranked 70th in the latest ITA rankings and carry an 11-6 record into the weekend. The 49ers are 3-2 against AAC opponents, earning wins against FAU, UAB and Wichita State, but falling to Tulane and South Florida.
Players Mentioned
