Tulane University
Rice
Men's Tennis Drops Heartbreaker at Rice
Mar 18, 2012 | Men's Tennis
March 18, 2012
HOUSTON - Tulane's 63rd-ranked men's tennis team dropped a heartbreaker to No. 64 Rice, 4-3, on Sunday afternoon in the final match of the Rice Invitational at the Jake Hess Tennis Stadium.
The Green Wave (8-6, 2-2 C-USA) fell for the second straight match and Rice (11-5, 2-0 C-USA) won for the third straight match.
"Today was a real heartbreaker," Tulane head coach Mark Booras said. "When you come that close to getting a win and then it gets away from you it is tough to swallow. The guys fought hard and put everything on the line and put us in position to win, but the tide turned the other way and they got the momentum and ran with it. We will need to bounce back and learn from this. We still have a lot of season left."
Tulane opened the match by taking the doubles point by rallying wins on courts one and two after Rice took the match on court three. Shaye Wali and Rodrigo Rappaccioli defeated Michael Nuesslein and Jonathan Chang, 7-6, on court two, followed by Idan Mark and Joe Young's, 8-5, victory over Christian Saravia and Justin To on court one to secure the point.
The Owls them jumped to a 2-1 lead with singles wins on courts two and four before the Green Wave tied it back up when Rappaccioli edged Leif Berger, 6-2, 6-4, on court six.
A Rice win on court five preceded Young's 6-4, 6-3, victory on court three to tie it back at 3-3.
Sam Garforth-Bles then clinched the match for Rice by taking the last two sets on court one in a 4-6, 7-5, 6-1, victory over Mark.
Tulane will try to get back on track when they return home to host conference foe SMU on March 23 at 1 p.m. CT at the Goldring Tennis Center.
Players Mentioned
