The Rice men’s tennis team, ranked No. 49 nationally, will enter the American Conference Championship as the top seed and face Tulane in the quarterfinals on April 17 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
This tournament appearance follows a strong season for Rice, which finished with a 13-7 overall record and went undefeated against conference opponents at 8-0. The Owls are the reigning conference champions and are aiming to become only the third men’s program in American Conference history to win consecutive titles.
Rice is represented in several Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings. The doubles team of Petro Kuzmenok and Santiago Navarro holds the No. 57 spot, while Kuzmenok is ranked No. 53 individually in singles play. The team also received five seasonal honors from the conference; Kuzmenok earned three—including two weekly awards and Player of the Month for October—while Kabeer Kapasi and Navarro each collected weekly honors.
In fall competition, Navarro and Kuzmenok captured the American doubles championship before advancing to compete at the NCAA Championship. The Owls began their spring campaign with a narrow victory over Oregon during ITA Kickoff Weekend.
The quarterfinal match against Tulane is scheduled for Friday morning at Michael D. Chase Tennis Center, with live video coverage available through TrackTennis and live stats provided by iOnCourt.
