April 20, 2009

Rice 4, SMU 2

ORLANDO, Fla. (SMU)-No. 2 seed Rice defeated No.3 seed SMU, 4-2, Saturday at the UCF Tennis Complex on the campus of UCF in Orlando, Fla. sending the Mustangs home with a 16-11 overall record.

Rice (17-9) scored first when the Owls captured two of the three doubles matches. First off the courts were junior Chris Hooshyar and sophomore Artem Baradach. The duo handed Christian Saravia and Sam Garforth-Bles an 8-4 loss at No. 3 doubles. The No. 1 doubles teams of Christoph Müeller and Tobias Scheil of Rice as well as sophomores Darren Walsh and Adham el-Effendi each sported a national ranking of No. 53 in the latest ITA Rankings.

Today, Müeller and Scheil held the edge as the pair defeated Walsh and el-Effendi, 8-6. Clinching the doubles point at No. 2 for the Owls was Bruno Rosa and Isamu Tachibana. They picked up a 9-8 (7-5) win over junior Robin Fahgen and freshman David Costa of SMU (16-11).

SMU tied the score with a singles win at No. 5 when Walsh defeated Tachibana of Rice, 6-1, 6-4. Rice regained the lead with a 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 6 singles as Saravia defeated freshman Gaston Cuadranti 6-4, 6-2. Baradach of SMU knotted this back up with a three-set victory over Sam Garforth-Bles, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2. Clinching the victory for the Owls was Rosa, who's ranked 47th in the country. He eliminated No. 65 Fahgen, 6-2, 6-4.