Rice, the top seed, defeated fourth-seeded South Florida 4-1 on Apr. 18 to secure a place in its second consecutive American Conference Championship men’s tennis final.
The win moves Rice closer to another conference title after claiming its first last season. The team took an early lead by capturing the doubles point, marking the twentieth time this season they have done so.
In doubles play, Yair Sarouk and Kabeer Kapasi opened with a 6-1 victory over Ettore Danesi and Guglielmo Verdese. After South Florida responded with a win at No. 2 doubles, Petro Kuzmenok and Santiago Navarro clinched the point for Rice with a narrow 7-6 decision against Francisco Llanes and James Newton.
South Florida briefly tied the match when Verdese beat Gabriel Porras in straight sets on court five. However, Rice regained control as Navarro posted a straight-set win over Elijah Cham and Rafael Botran won his singles match in three sets against Stepan Mruzek. For the second time during this championship run, Noey Do secured the deciding point for Rice by defeating Llanes in three sets.
When play was stopped due to clinching rules, both Kuzmenok and Kapasi were leading their respective third sets. Last year, Rice also overcame South Florida en route to winning its first American Conference title.
Rice will face sixth-seeded Tulsa in Sunday’s championship match at noon. The contest is scheduled to be streamed live on ESPN+.
