The Rice men’s tennis team began the 67th Ralph O’Connor Rice Invitational with a 6-1 victory over DePaul at the George R. Brown Tennis Center in Houston on Thursday.
Rice, now holding a 5-6 record for the season, claimed its seventh doubles point this year to take an early lead in the match. On Court 1, Yair Sarouk and Kabeer Kapasi defeated DePaul’s Sebastian Medica and Tobias Leitner with a score of 6-3. The Owls secured the doubles point on Court 2 when Santiago Navarro and Joshua Mandelbaum overcame Alejandro Gandini and Pablo Almeida in a close tiebreak, winning 7-6. Play was stopped on Court 3 with Tommy Czaplinski and Rafael Botran trailing DePaul’s team by one game.
In singles matches, Santiago Navarro delivered Rice’s first singles point by defeating Gandini 6-1, 6-0. Rafael Botran followed with a decisive win over Andy Hadziabdic, finishing 6-0, 6-1 on Court 2. Guillermo Porras clinched the overall match for Rice after beating Sven Moser 6-2, 6-2.
After securing victory, play continued with Kapasi beating Almeida in straight sets (6-4, 6-2), while Noey Do earned another point for Rice against Augusto Pardo-Cano (6-2, 6-3). DePaul got its only win of the day when Medica defeated Czaplinski in three sets: 1-6, 7-5, [10-2] on Court 4.
Rice will conclude its participation in the Ralph O’Connor Rice Invitational on Saturday against UAB at a time yet to be announced.
Results from both doubles and singles matches are as follows:
DOUBLES
Yair Sarouk/Kabeer Kapasi (RICE) def. Sebastian Medica/Tobias Leitner (DEPAUL) 6-3
Santiago Navarro/Joshua Mandelbaum (RICE) def. Alejandro Gandini/Pablo Almeida (DEPAUL) 7-6
Tommy Czaplinski/Rafael Botran (RICE) vs Tamas Giles/Sven Moser (DEPAUL) unfinished at 5-6
SINGLES
Santiago Navarro (RICE) def. Alejandro Gandini (DEPAUL) 6-1, 6-0
Rafael Botran (RICE) def. Andy Hadziabdic (DEPAUL) 6-0, 6-1
Kabeer Kapasi (RICE) def. Pablo Almeida (DEPAUL) 6-4, 6-2
Sebastian Medica (DEPAUL) def Tommy Czaplinski (RICE) 1-6,7–5,[10–2]
Guillermo Porras (RICE) def. Sven Moser(DEPAUL ) 62 ,62
Noey Do(RICE )def .Augusto Pardo-Cano(DEPAUL ) 62 ,63
Rice is set to face UAB next as they finish out their schedule at this year’s invitational.
