The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Rice
No. 24 Men’s Tennis Preview: Rice
02.19.2016 | Men's Tennis
Longhorns begin a seven-match stretch of road and neutral-site matches.
WHAT: No. 26 Texas (5-5) opens a stretch of seven matches played at road or neutral sites over the next month. The Longhorns head to Houston this weekend to take on No. 49 Rice.
WHEN/WHERE
No. 24 Texas at No. 49 Rice
Sunday, Feb. 21 - Noon
George R. Brown Tennis Center – Houston, Texas
LIVE SCORING/VIDEO
http://www.riceowls.com/facilities/tennis-livestats.html
LAST TIME OUT
Texas defeated Stanford by a 4-3 count on Feb. 7 at UT's Weller Indoor Tennis Center. Watch Adrian Ortiz's clinching point here
LAST MEETING AGAINST RICE
Texas dealt Rice a 6-1 defeat on Feb. 8, 2015 in Austin.
ITA RANKINGS UPDATE
Texas moved up two spots in the latest ITA team rankings (Feb. 17) and re-entered the top-25 at No. 24 following its win over Stanford.
Texas has taken on a rigorous schedule chocked full of top-25 foes in the season's opening month. The Longhorns have faced off against No. 6 Ohio State, No. 18 California, No. 19 Ole Miss, the aforementioned 22nd-ranked Cardinal and No. 23 Florida. Texas meets a top-five opponent in its next match when it visits No. 5 Wake Forest.
Freshman Harrison Scott ranks 109th in the ITA men's singles rankings after posting a 10-2 fall record and winning the Racquet Club Collegiate Invitational title last September.
The ITA will release updated team, singles and doubles rankings on Feb. 23.
LOOKING AHEAD
Texas closes the month of February next weekend at Wake Forest (Feb. 27). The Longhorns play their next home contest on March 23 when they host Arkansas at Westwood Country Club.
MORE ON THE LONGHORNS
Along with the aforementioned Riechmann and Mee, Texas welcomes three additional veterans from the 2015 squad that posted a 21-7 record and finished the season ranked ninth nationally.
George Goldhoff posted a 17-10 singles mark, including an 8-6 record in dual matches last season as a junior. Sophomore Adrian Ortiz went 3-2 in dual-match play last season, and redshirt sophomore William Jou added three singles wins as a freshman. Ortiz is off to a fine start in 2016 with his 5-3 singles mark at Nos. 3 and 4 singles.
UT also welcomes redshirt freshman Julian Zlobinsky and freshmen Rodrigo Banzer, Johnny Goodwin, Colin Markes and Leonardo Telles along with the freshman Scott. Banzer made his collegiate debut during the ITA Kick-Off Weekend event against Florida, and Zlobinsky is off to an impressive 6-1 start in dual-match play.
Michael Center returns for his 16th season at the helm of the Texas men's tennis program. The four-time Big 12 Coach of the Year led the Longhorns to their second-straight top-10 final ranking last season as Texas reached the round of 16 at the 2015 NCAA Championships.
A pair of Center's pupils reached the pinnacle of their sport last May when Soren Hess-Olesen and Lloyd Glasspool won the first NCAA doubles title for Texas since 1944.
Center turned to a pair of familiar faces to fill the vacancies on his coaching staff. Bruce Berque, who served as a volunteer coach at Texas last season, is in his first season as an associate head coach under Center.
Berque filled the position previously held by longtime associate head coach Ricardo Rubio, who accepted his first head coaching position last summer with The University of Denver men's tennis program.
Berque served 10 seasons (2004-14) as the head men's tennis coach at Michigan and led the Wolverines to the NCAA Championships in his final nine seasons in Ann Arbor. He helped the Illinois men to the 2003 NCAA title during his six-season stint (1999-2004) as an associate head coach for the Fighting Illini.
Chris Camillone, a former ITA doubles All-American at Texas, returns to the Longhorns as a volunteer assistant coach.
Players Mentioned
