Online only: Rosa earns men's tennis singles title

By Casey Michel     9/24/09 7:00pm

Bruno Rosa did not get a chance to play in the men's tennis team's season-opener two weeks ago, but the senior made the most of his opportunity to shake off summer's rust last weekend. Rosa ended up on top of the singles draw at the 10th Annual Midland Invitational last weekend, winning five straight matches over the three-day tournament. Rosa, the tournament's No. 1 seed, opened up the Midland, Texas, draw by sweeping the University of Texas at Arlington's Dmitry Minkin and the University of Oklahoma's Ionut Beleleu. In the quarterfinals Rosa battled back to down Baylor University's Maros Horny 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 to set up a semifinal meeting with teammate Oscar Podlewski, a junior transfer from Elon University. Podlewski put up a solid audition for why he should crack the team's rotation, but Rosa bested the younger Owl 6-3, 7-6.

In the finals, Rosa butted heads with the University of Texas's Josh Zavala, the same Longhorn who clinched Texas's 4-3 win over Rice last spring. Early on it looked like Zavala was going to find repeat success, edging a win in the first set. But Rosa stormed back from the deficit to take the next two frames for the victory, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.

With the singles championship in tow, the Owls rounded out their weekend with a quarterfinals finish in doubles from senior Dennis Polyakov and sophomore Sam Garforth-Bles.

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Rice continues its fall slate this weekend at the Baylor Intercollegiate in Waco, Texas. The tournament will feature a range of squads from across the country, including New Mexico State University, the University of Tennessee and the University of Wisconsin.

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