Tulane University
#48 Rice
Men's Tennis Drops Conference Opener at Rice
Mar 19, 2010 | Men's Tennis
March 19, 2010
HOUSTON - The Tulane men's tennis team dropped a 4-0 dual match decision to No. 48 Rice at Jake Hess Stadium on Friday afternoon in the first Conference USA match of the season.
"Today was a tough one for us," Mark Booras. "Rice started out strong and where able to sustain that level throughout. Our guys fought hard, but we started a little slow and felt like we were trying to get out of the ditch we dug the rest of the match."
Tulane (3-6) dropped the doubles point to Rice (7-8) before falling in the first three singles matches decided in straight sets. With the match victory secured, three other singles matches went unfinished.
Shaye Wali fell to No. 34 Bruno Rosa, 6-1, 6-1 on court one, while Etham Frenkel lost to Jonathan Chang, 6-1, 6-3 on court six and Rodrigo Rappaccioli dropped a 6-3, 6-1, decision to Sam Garforth-Bles on court four that decided the match.
Adam Bernstein and Rappaccioli lost 8-4 in doubles to Rosa and Isamu Tachibana on court two, while Frenkel and Trevor Getz fell to Dennis Polyakov and Oscar Podlewski, 8-2, on court three.
Wali and Joe Young were tied 5-5 with the 45th ranked doubles duo of Michael Nuesslein and Christian Saravia when play was unfinished because the point had been decided.
Tulane looks to rebound on Saturday when they face Texas A&M Corpus Christi at 9 a.m. at Rice's intramural courts.
"I am looking for a good response in tomorrow's match against TAMCC," Booras said. "We were able to see them play a bit today and get a good idea of their personnel. The guys are looking forward to rebounding well from today's match."
Players Mentioned
