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Rice
No. 3 Men’s Tennis preview: Rice
03.11.2019 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns and Owls continue to the fourth-most played series in UT history on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.
No. 3 Texas vs Rice
When: Tues., March 12, 2019, 5:30 p.m. CT
Where: Texas Tennis Center
Live Video: hookem.at/Watch-Tennis
Live Stats: hookem.at/MTN-Stats
Notes
-Rice Series: Texas leads, 71-17-7
Texas and Rice is the fourth-most-played series in UT history behind Texas A&M, Baylor and SMU. The Longhorns have put together 13 straight wins dating back to 2007 including a 7-0 sweep in Houston last year. This will be the first time the teams have played outdoors in Austin since 2013.
Last Meeting
No. 10 Texas 7, Rice 0
March 10, 2018 • Houston Texas
Singles – Order of Finish: 3, 1, 6, 4, 5, 2
1. No. 46 Yuya Ito (UT) def. Sumit Sarkar (Rice), 6-3, 6-4
2. Christian Sigsgaard (UT) def. Eric Rutledge (Rice), 7-6 (7), 6-1
3. No. 60 Harrison Scott (UT) def. Mohamed Abdel-Aziz (Rice), 6-1, 6-3
4. No. 70 Leonardo Telles (UT) def. Jacob Eskeland (Rice), 6-4, 6-2
5. Rodrigo Banzer (UT) def. Conrad Russell (Rice), 6-4, 6-3
6. Colin Markes (UT) def. Ashton Duke (Rice), 7-6 (7), 6-2
Doubles – Order of Finish: 3, 2
1. No. 3 Rodrigo Banzer/Leonardo Telles (UT) vs. Sumit Sarkar/Eric Rutledge (Rice), 5-2, unf.
2. Christian Sigsgaard/Adrian Ortiz (UT) def. Conrad Russell/Jacob Eskeland (Rice), 6-2
3. Colin Markes/Yuya Ito (UT) def. Jared Aiman/Mohamed Abdel-Aziz (Rice), 6-1
-Texas in the ITA Rankings
Texas is ranked No. 3 in the latest ITA Team rankings released March 5, its highest position since March 8, 2011. The Longhorns also had four different players individually listed with three in singles and one pair in doubles in the latest individual rankings from March 5. Texas was the only team to have two singles players ranked in the Top 10, and one of only two teams, along with No. 1 Ohio State to have three singles players in the top 50 and a doubles pair in the top 15.
Singles
No. 4 Christian Sigsgaard
No. 9 Yuya Ito
No. 49 Harrison Scott
Doubles
No. 13 Harrison Scott/Christian Sigsgaard
-Rice in the ITA Rankings
Rice is not ranked in the latest ITA Team rankings released March 5
Singles
N/A
Doubles
No. 40 Sumit Sarkar/Eric Rutledge
-Facing the best
Texas is officially 4-1 against ranked opponents based on the rankings available at the time of the matches, however that doesn't tell the full story of the quality of their opponents since the rankings expand during the season. The Longhorns have an 8-1 mark against teams currently rated in the top 50 by the ITA including No. 1 Ohio State (only loss), No. 6 North Carolina, No. 15 Illinois, No. 19 USC, No. 33 Arkansas, No. 34 Georgia, No. 35 NC State, No. 40 Ole Miss and No. 43 Miami (Fla.). They have matches remaining against No. 1 Ohio State (second time), No. 5 Baylor, No. 8 Columbia, No. 11 TCU, No. 18 Oklahoma, No. 19 USC (second time), No. 30 Oklahoma State and No. 32 Texas Tech.
-Seven-match homestand
Texas opened its seven-match homestand with a 6-0 sweep over No. 35 NC State. Of its seven opponents, six of are currently ranked with three in the top 10 (No. 1 Ohio State, No. 5 Baylor, No. 8 Columbia) and another in the top 20 (No. 19 USC). The Longhorns will have two matches remaining of their series of three in five days to start the homestand with Rice on March 12 at 5:30 p.m., and then No. 1 Ohio State on March 14 at 5:30 p.m.
-Dual match success
So far this season, the Longhorns have compiled a 61-14 (.813) singles record and a 27-5 (.844) doubles mark in dual match play while getting off to a 14-1 start. Texas is outscoring its opponents 73-15 in its first 15 matches.
-Sweeping the Pack
Texas opened up its seven-match homestand with a solid 6-0 sweep of No. 35 NC State on March 10. The teams played only singles due to weather concerns and after a bit of slow start in a number of the matches, the Longhorns responded in each case, including two wins that came after dropping the opening set.
-Sigsgaard named Big 12 Player of the Week
Christian Sigsgaard was named Big 12 Men's Tennis Player of the Week on March 5. It marked his first conference weekly honor of the season. Sigsgaard, who had been No. 8 ITA singles rankings, defeated No. 5 Jan Zielinski in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, to lead Texas to a 4-2 road victory at Georgia. Sigsgaard then moved up to No. 4 in the rankings. At the time, it was Sigsgaard's fifth win over a ranked opponent in dual match play, all at first singles, and his 15th including tournament play.
-Winning in Athens
In a match that saw only singles play and was split between outdoors and indoors, the No. 3 Texas took a 4-2 road win over Georgia in Athens on March 3. In order to attempt to beat incoming rain, the teams began with singles on the outdoor courts. However, after all but one of the matches had reached the second set, the rains came and led to a brief delay before play began inside.
-Quick Change
Texas' match at Tulane scheduled for Feb. 26 was cancelled due to weather-related issues, but the Longhorns found a quick replacement match in hosting University of the Incarnate Word for that same day. Texas picked up a sweep over the Cardinals, 7-0, in the match.
-Good in the classroom
Senior Johnny Goodwin was named one of four Texas student-athletes to be named a recipient of the Big 12's 2019 Dr. Gerald Lage Academic Achievement Award. To be eligible, an honoree must have lettered, earned 100 hours of credit and have a cumulative GPA of 3.8 or better. Goodwin is majoring in humanities and government.
-Texas reaches ITA Indoors semifinals for the second time
For the second time in program history, the Longhorns got to the semifinals of the ITA National Indoor Championship, which was held Feb. 15-18 in Chicago. Texas topped a pair of ranked teams in host No. 14 Illinois and No. 5 USC before falling to the eventual champion, top-seeded No. 2 Ohio State. In order to qualify for the tournament, the Longhorns had previously swept Washington and Miami (Fla.) in the Austin ITA Kickoff Weekend on Jan. 25-26.
-On the Markes
Senior Colin Markes is on a 14-match winning streak in singles going back to tournament play and is 9-0 in dual matches this season. Following the ITA Indoors, Markes was selected to the All-Tournament Team at fifth singles. He was the only player chosen for singles or doubles from a team other than champion Ohio State or finalist Wake Forest. Markes played fifth singles and second doubles in all three matches in helping Texas reach the semifinals for the second time in school history. He posted a 2-0 singles record that included straight-set wins over No. 116 Caleb Chakravarthi of Illinois and Riley Smith of USC, extending his singles winning streak to 11. His third singles match was left unfinished on triple match point against No. 86 Alex Kobalt of Ohio State. It had the potential to be just the fourth loss in dual match singles play for Ohio State all season. During that match, Markes won a first-set tiebreaker in which he was down 5-1, but rallied for the 8-6 win.
-Fast start
Despite falling for the first time this season in its last match against No. 2 Ohio State, Texas' win over No. 5 USC in its previous match on Feb. 16 moved the Longhorns to 11-0 at the time in dual match play, which was its best start since opening 15-0 in 2002. It passed the 8-0 start the team posted in 2011. The Longhorns also had back-to-back 7-0 starts in 2014-15.
-On the road again
The Longhorns hit the road and took a pair of 6-1 wins at Tulsa (Feb. 8) and Arkansas (Feb. 10) in its first two true road dual matches of the season. They had been scheduled for another pair of road matches following the ITA Indoors, but the first of those, against Tulane (Feb. 26), was cancelled. Texas will still travel to Georgia on March 3.
-Huang earns first career Big 12 Men's Tennis Player of the Week honor
Freshman Chih Chi Huang earned his first career Big 12 Men's Tennis Player of the Week honor on Feb. 5. Huang clinched the team's 5-2 win over No. 6 North Carolina in a third-set tiebreaker in fifth singles as a true freshman defeating UNC senior Blaine Boyden (6-4, 4-6, 7-6 [5]). He also paired with Yuya Ito to contribute to the doubles point with a 6-2 victory over Brian Cernoch and Mac Kiger. Earlier in the week, Huang twice stepped into the third singles spot during a Wednesday doubleheader, picking up a win over Javier Rodriguez of UTSA (6-2, 4-6, 1-0 [8]), while having to leave his match against Thomas Rodrigues of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi unfinished on a match point after the team clinched. Huang also partnered with Ito for a 6-4 doubles win over UTSA to help the team earn that point en route to four wins for the week, including two in singles and two in doubles. Overall, Huang helped the team to a 3-0 record with a combined score of 15-3.
-Texas tops No. 6 North Carolina for third straight time
Texas played its first indoor match of the spring season against No. 6 North Carolina at the Weller Indoor Tennis Center on Feb. 2. The Longhorns took a thrilling 5-2 victory for their third straight win over the Tar Heels after claiming 4-3 victories in 2018 in Chapel Hill and in 2015 at Weller. In a match that came down to the wire, the top five singles matches all went to a third set with Texas winning four of them. The last time Texas had defeated a top-10 team, it was also a No. 6 North Carolina team in the 2018 match in Chapel Hill.
-Year Two of the Texas Tennis Center
The Longhorns are in their second season at the Texas Tennis Center. During its inaugural season, Texas posted a 10-2 record, including winning the 2018 Big 12 Tournament. Texas opened its home season with a 6-1 win over SMU on January 20, and swept the ITA Kickoff Weekend with wins versus Washington and Miami (Fla.) before sweeping a doubleheader against UTSA and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to move to 5-0 at the Texas Tennis Center for the season.
-Longhorns begin dual match play in Orlando
Texas topped Ole Miss in the first dual match of the 2019 season, 7-0, on Jan. 16 at the USTA National Campus Collegiate Center in Orlando, Fla. The Longhorns took all six singles points plus the doubles point without dropping a set. Texas now holds a 4-1 all-time dual match record against Ole Miss. It was the second time Texas and Ole Miss competed against each other in this first week of the spring season. The Longhorns posted 6-1 singles and 3-1 doubles marks against the Rebels in individual play at the Miami Invitational.
-Texas part of new college tennis technology
Texas' match versus Ole Miss was part of the United States Tennis Association Collegiate Series, which includes a total of 12 matches featuring 22 different teams throughout the season. It was the first of four matches in the series to be part of the introduction of the PlayFair Challenge System using PlaySight SmartCourt technology. The mission of PlayFair is to improve the level of sportsmanship throughout tennis with the goal of increasing participation in, enjoyment, and viewership of the sport. PlayFair is a feature of PlaySight's SmartCourt technology, enabling players to challenge line calls made by their opponents or an official's overrule using instant video replay (a concept in sports known as Video Assistant Refereeing, or VAR). Players and officials can review where the ball landed by looking at a multi-angle video replay on the PlaySight touchscreen kiosk or an iPad/tablet device. The other three contests will include the Florida State-Miami men's match on March 10, and two women's matches, Michigan-Duke on March 9 and Notre Dame-Iowa on March 12.
-Longhorns open season with individual play at Miami Invitational
Texas finished the Miami Invitational (Jan. 11-13) with an 18-5 singles record and an 11-1 doubles mark, earning more victories than its opponents (Miami, Ole Miss, Wisconsin) in each section of singles and doubles of the three-day tournament. In singles, the Longhorns finished with a 5-1 mark against Wisconsin, 7-3 against Miami, and 6-1 against Ole Miss, while in doubles they swept both Miami and Wisconsin in four matches and were 3-1 against Ole Miss.
-ITA Preseason Rankings
Texas was ranked No. 8 in the preseason Oracle Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Division I Rankings released Jan. 9. It marked the second straight season the Longhorns have opened in that spot and they moved back into the Top 10 after finishing last season at No. 12. Texas was the top-rated Big 12 team in the poll, which featured five of the six conference members. Texas held that spot in each of the rankings released Jan. 23 and 30 before moving up to No. 6 after its win over then No. 6 North Carolina.
-Big 12 Preseason Rankings
The Big 12 Conference men's tennis coaches unanimously selected Texas as the No. 1 team in the preseason conference poll, the league announced on Jan. 8. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team, so the Longhorns took all five first-place votes available to them and 25 points overall. Baylor and Oklahoma tied for second with 18 points.
-Defending Big 12 Champs
The Longhorns return a talented and experienced lineup that includes seven juniors or seniors back from its 2018 Big 12 title team, along with three newcomers. Head coach Michael Center enters his 19th season leading the team.
Players Mentioned
