Sports notebook: Men's tennis finds mixed results at Baylor tournament, Women's tennis takes doubles title

10/1/09 7:00pm

Men's tennis finds mixed results at Baylor tournament

Playing their third invitational in as many weeks, the men's tennis team continues to get the preseason experience they will need come spring. Competing against 23 teams with over 110 athletes present, Rice traveled to Waco, Texas, last weekend to take part in the ninth annual Baylor HEB Intercollegiate, held at the Baylor Tennis Center.Leading the Owls was senior Bruno Rosa, whose recent play has kept him on the national stage and earned him a No. 22 ranking in the nation. However, Rosa could not win his second tournament in as many weeks. The first round saw Rosa drop to the University of Tulsa's Ashley Watling 6-7, 6-3, 6-1, his first loss of the year. Also bounced from the first round was sophomore Michael Nusslein, who fell in straight sets to Oklahoma State University's Anton Bobytskyi.

But these two losses were not indicative of the Owls' play, which saw junior Oscar Podlewski and sophomores Isamu Tachibana, Andy Wang and Christian Saravia push through to the second round.

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However, Tachibana and Podlewski could not make it past the Round of 16 in the Singles A draw, as both fell in straight sets, though Podlewski was forced to retire early.

In the Singles B draw, Wang dropped a straight-set contest with the University of Louisiana-Lafayette's Carlin Murray. And even though he downed the University of Texas at San Antonio's Max Stratmann 6-2, 6-2, Saravia could not get past Texas A&M University's Kayvon Karimi, losing in three sets.

This weekend will see the Owls travel to Tulsa, Okla., to take part in the D'Novo ITA All-American tournament, which, if they play well, could take them all the way through next week.

- Casey Michel

Women's tennis takes doubles title

Within the home confines of Jake Hess Tennis Stadium, the women's tennis team improved upon last week's performances with an impressive showing at the 2009 Rice Tennis Classic. Held last weekend, the Owls won three out of seven flights of singles play and took the championship in the doubles flight.

After the first day of play, every Rice singles competitor advanced into the winners bracket, with senior Julie Chao, juniors Rebecca Hanle, Jessica Jackson and Varsha Shiva-Shankar and sophomore Alex Rasch all earning victories.

The two Rice doubles teams also proved victorious in day one, with the teams of Chao-Shiva-Shankar and Rasch-Jackson both advancing.

On Sunday, Hanle, Chao and Lin all won their respective singles flights, while Rasch-Jackson came out 8-4 over Tina Radan and Tara Eckel of the University of Oklahoma.

The women will compete next in the ITA Regionals in Waco, Texas, on Oct. 16.

- Natalie Clericuzio

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