Tulane Begins Final Home Stand with Rice on Sunday
Mar 21, 2015 | Men's Tennis
NEW ORLEANS - With the American Athletic Conference Tennis Championships quickly approaching, the 12-6 Tulane men's tennis team will close out its home portion of the schedule with two matches, starting with Rice University on Sunday, March 22, at 1 p.m. CT.
The Green Wave have stood their ground at the City Park Pepsi Tennis Center, boasting an undefeated 8-0 mark at home. In fact, in those home victories, the Olive and Blue have outscored their opponents by a combined margin of 43-6.
Tulane will look to get back on track after going 1-2 at the USF Spring Bring Tournament last weekend. The Wave knocked off No. 52 North Florida, 4-1, rallying in singles after dropping the doubles point. The Green Wave then fell 4-0 to No. 20 South Florida before dropping a 4-2 decision to No. 48 Penn State.
"Our match with Rice has been a great rivalry across state lines for a long time so we're really looking forward to this match," Tulane head coach Mark Booras said. "We learned a lot during our last tournament, especially with our doubles. It will be important for us to come out of the gates fast and put those things in to play so we can set the right kind of tone for the match."
No. 13 Dominik Koepfer is the lone Green Wave with a win streak in singles after the weekend at USF. The junior has won four straight, which includes a ranked win over No. 54 Connor Clennon of Memphis.
Furthermore, Koepfer has won two straight matches in doubles alongside Chi-Shan Jao. The duo defeated USF's Oliver Pramming and Justin Roberts 6-3, and then followed that performance with a 6-2 win vs. Penn State's Leonard Stakhovsky and Aws Laaribi.
Rice enters Sunday's contest 7-10 on the year and have yet to record a victory away from home, with a 0-6 mark. The Owls will also be searching to get back into the win column after dropping four straight.
Senior Srikar Alla occupies the No. 1 singles position with a 6-10 record. Meanwhile, sophomore David Warren has the most dual wins at 11-5, all from court five.
Finally, Tulane wraps its home schedule with Dartmouth on Thursday, March 26, at 3 p.m. CT.
Players Mentioned
