TCU
Rice
No. 34 Rice sneaks past No. 23 TCU, 4-3
4/1/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 1, 2006
FORT WORTH, Texas - The 23rd-ranked TCU Horned Frogs suffered a 4-3 setback to 34th-ranked Rice on Saturday afternoon at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center.
Rice posted wins on courts No. 1 and No. 2 to claim the doubles point and a 1-0 match advantage. TCU's doubles tandem of senior Jacopo Tezza and freshman Kriegler Brink recorded an 8-5 triumph over Ben Harknett and Christoph Muller.
The Owls expanded their lead to 2-0 after Tony Haerle defeated Radu Barbu 6-4, 6-0 at No. 4.
TCU cut into Rice's lead and recorded its first victory of the afternoon when No. 64 Andrei Mlendea tallied a 6-4, 6-1 win at No. 2 over Harknett.
Senior Jordan Freitas knotted the match at 2-2 after bouncing Filip Zivojinovic 6-4, 6-4 on court No. 5.
The Frogs grabbed their first lead of the match when Tezza completed a 6-3, 6-2 decision versus Ralph Knupfer.
Robert Searle ran the match to its second tie after escaping TCU's Rafael Abreu. Muller clinched the match for the Owls with a victory at No. 6 versus Cosmin Cotet.
With the loss, the Frogs fell to 9-7 on the season. The team returns to action on Tuesday when it makes the short commute to Dallas to take on SMU. Match time is slated for 2 p.m.
No. 34 Rice def. No. 23 TCU, 4-3
Singles
1. Robert Searle (RICE) def. No. 70 Rafael Abreu (TCU) 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4
2. No. 64 Andrei Mlendea (TCU) def. Ben Harknett (RICE) 6-4, 6-1
3. Jacopo Tezza (TCU) def. Ralph Knupfer (RICE) 6-3, 6-2
4. Tony Haerle (RICE) def. Radu Barbu (TCU) 6-0, 6-4
5. Jordan Freitas (TCU) def. Filip Zivijanovic (RICE) 6-4, 6-4
6. Christoph Miller (RICE) def. Cosmin Cotet (TCU) 7-6(5), 6-7(2), 6-3
Order of Finish: 4, 5, 2, 3, 1, 6
Doubles
1. Haerle/Searle (RICE) def. No. 33 Abreu/Freitas (TCU) 8-5
2. Knupfer/Zivijanovic(RICE) def. Cotet/Mlendea (TCU) 8-3
3. Brink/Tezza (TCU) def. Harknett/Muller (TCU) 8-5
Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1
Players Mentioned
