Rice Battles No. 8 Baylor in 4-3 Loss

Monday, March 2

George R Brown Tennis Center

2 PM

Rice University

Baylor

3/2/2026 6:25:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

By: Kendyll Morris (km215@rice.edu)

HOUSTON — The Rice men's tennis team earned two ranked singles wins in 4-3 loss to No. 8 Baylor on Monday in its home opener at the George R. Brown Tennis Center.

Baylor claimed the early advantage by securing the doubles point. Yair Sarouk and Kabeer Kapasi dropped a 6-1 decision to Connor Van Schalkwyk and Luc Koenig. The Bears clinched the point when Tommy Czaplinski and Rafael Botran fell 6-2 on court three. Petro Kuzmenok and Santiago Navarro led 4-3 when play was halted.

The Owls battled in singles, pushing the match to the final court and earning two ranked wins. Sarouk fell to Koenig 6-2, 6-4 on court five before Gabriel Porras put Rice on the board with a 6-2, 6-2 victory. Kuzmenok evened the match at 2-2 with a 6-2, 6-4 win over No. 13 Devin Badenhorst on court one.

Baylor regained the lead when Botran dropped a 6-3, 7-5 decision on court two. Kapasi tied the match at 3-3 with a 6-4, 6-4 win over No. 73 Alexandru Chirita on court four. Navarro fell 7-5, 6-3 on court three as the Bears clinched the match.

Rice returns to action March 6, opening the 67th Ralph O'Connor Rice Invitational against DePaul before closing the weekend against UAB.

RESULTS
DOUBLES
P. Kuzmenok/S. Navarro (RICE) vs A. Chirita/Z. Velcz (BU) 4-3 uf
C. Van Schalkwyk/L. Koenig (BU) def. Y. Sarouk/K. Kapasi (RICE) 6-1
D. Badenhorst/B. Anderson (BU) def. T. Czaplinksi/R. Botran (RICE) 6-2
Order of Finish: 2, 3

SINGLES
P. Kuzmenok (RICE) def. #13 D. Badenhorst (BU) 6-2, 6-4
#39 Z. Velcz (BU) def. R. Botran (RICE) 6-3, 7-5
#27 C. Van Schalkwyk (BU) def. S. Navarro (RICE) 7-5, 6-3
K. Kapasi (RICE) def. #73 A. Chirita (BU) 6-4, 6-4
L. Koenig (BU) def. Y. Sarouk (RICE) 6-2, 6-4
G. Porras (RICE) def. C. Baierl (BU) 6-2, 6-2
Order of Finish: 5, 6, 1, 2, 4, 3