The Rice men’s tennis team, ranked No. 60 nationally, defeated Tulane University 4-3 on March 22 at the Goldring Tennis Center in New Orleans.
The match saw Rice secure the doubles point early and ultimately improve their season record to 9-6, while Tulane’s record moved to 6-7. The close contest featured several three-set singles matches and competitive doubles play.
Tulane earned its first point with Piotr Andrzejewski winning his singles match at the No. 4 position (6-3, 2-6, 6-1). Daniel Phillips followed with a victory over No. 49 Petro Kuzmenok at No. 1 singles (3-6, 6-1, 6-3), providing another key point for Tulane.
In doubles competition, Rice’s duo of Petro Kuzmenok and Santiago Navarro defeated Daniel Phillips and Lance Nisbet from Tulane (7-5) in the top spot. The third doubles match also went to Rice as Tommy Czaplinski and Rafael Botran won against Asaf Friedler and AJ Mercer (6-1). The second doubles match was unfinished at a score of six games each.
Tulane will return to action next weekend with away matches against #59 Memphis on Friday, March 27, followed by a visit to #43 Middle Tennessee on Sunday, March 29 at noon.
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