The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Rice
No. 11 Men's Tennis holds off Rice, 4-3
03.17.2009 | Men's Tennis
March 17, 2009
AUSTIN, Texas -- No. 11 Texas (12-3) captured the doubles point and held off a vigorous Rice (10-6) rally before holding off the Owls by a 4-3 count Tuesday evening at UT's Penick-Allison Tennis Center.
Texas opened the match by sweeping the doubles session. Juniors Dimitar Kutrovsky and Josh Zavala opened with an 8-4 win at the second slot over Bruno Rosa and Isamu Tachibana. UT clinched the doubles point at third doubles, where senior Miguel Reyes Varela and junior Olivier Sajous posted an 8-5 win over Sam Garforth-Bles and Dennis Polyakov. Texas closed out the doubles session with an 8-7 win from sophomores Kellen Damico and Ed Corrie over Christoph Muller and Tobias Scheil at first doubles.
Kutrovsky staked Texas to a 2-0 lead with a 6-2, 6-3 defeat of Muller at first singles. But, the Owls would even the match at two behind victories at the second and fifth singles positions. The Longhorns quickly assumed the lead once more, as Texas' Reyes Varela put the Horns back on top with a 6-4, 7-6 (4) win at third singles over Rice's Garforth-Bles.
At sixth singles, UT's Zavala took the first set against Polyakov, 6-3, but fell behind in a second-set tiebreaker, 4-0. Zavala took the next six points in the tiebreaker to assume a 6-4 lead but could not convert the next two match points. Knotted at seven in the tiebreaker, Zavala took the next two points to clinch the match and the team victory for the Longhorns.
"We had a good doubles effort and then we got a great effort at No. 1 (singles) from Dimitar Kutrovsky," UT coach Michael Center said. "But, it was a typical Texas-Rice match. Rice always has a tough team, and we knew it was not going to be easy to win the match, so I give them credit. We'll take some time off and get ready for Big 12 play."
The Owls added a three-set victory from Scheil at fourth singles. Texas resumes play on Friday, March 27 at Oklahoma State.
#11 Texas 4, Rice 3
Doubles - Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1
1 #23 Corrie/Damico (UT) def. #47 Muller/Scheil (RU) - 8-7 (3)
2 #20 Kutrovsky/Zavala (UT) def. Rosa/Tachibana (RU) - 8-4
3 #60 Reyes Varela/Sajous (UT) def. Garforth-Bles/Polyakov (RU) - 8-5
Singles - Order of Finish: 1, 2, 5, 3, 6, 4
1 #19 Dimitar Kutrovsky (UT) def. #42 Christoph Muller (RU) - 6-2, 6-3
2 #46 Bruno Rosa (RU) def. #45 Ed Corrie (UT) - 6-3, 6-3
3 Miguel Reyes Varela (UT) def. Sam Garforth-Bles (RU) - 6-4, 7-6 (4)
4 Tobias Scheil (RU) def. Kellen Damico (UT) - 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-4
5 Isamu Tachibana (RU) def. #112 Olivier Sajous (UT) - 1-6, 6-1, 6-4
6 Josh Zavala (UT) def. Dennis Polyakov (RU) - 6-3, 7-6 (7)
