The Rice men’s tennis team defeated No. 64 Memphis 4-2 on Apr. 4 at the George R. Brown Tennis Center, finishing the match before an approaching storm.
This win brings Rice’s overall record to 13-6 and marks a weekend sweep for the Owls, who remain undefeated against conference opponents this season with an 8-0 record.
In doubles play, Memphis took an early lead when Sam Reeve and Lasse Rensing beat Yair Sarouk and Kabeer Kapasi on court two. Rice responded as Tommy Czaplinski and Rafael Botran won their match on court three. The deciding doubles point came down to court one, where Petro Kuzmenok and Santiago Navarro secured a victory for Rice.
Kuzmenok continued his strong performance in singles by defeating Moritz Kudernatsch in straight sets. Although Memphis closed the gap with a win over Kapasi, Noey Do extended Rice’s lead with another singles victory. Navarro fell to Maxime Dubouch in three sets, but Gabriel Porras clinched the overall win for Rice after winning his third set against Marko Milosavljevic.
Play was briefly interrupted by lightning after the clinching point was secured, with Botran leading his unfinished singles match on court five.
Rice is scheduled to close its regular season at home against SMU on Wednesday at 5 p.m., where seniors Kapasi, Navarro, and Sarouk will be recognized prior to the match.
