Texans Tachibana and Chang play big role for Owls
The 35th ranked Rice Owls overcame a slow start in raw conditions to defeat No. 24 Oklahoma State in the first round of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend tournament at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station.
“We started out slow, but we played hard,” Rice men’s tennis coach Ron Smarr said. “It was cold out there, but we battled through it. Now we have to get ready for another tough match tomorrow,” Smarr added.
With temperatures hovering in the mid 30’s, the Owls found themselves in an early hole during the doubles competition. Their No. 2 team of Isamu Tachibana and Michael Nuesslein fell behind 4-0 before battling back to take a 9-7 decision to give them a split of the first two doubles matchups. The Owls then took the doubles point when their No. 1 team of Bruno Rosa and Oscar Podlewski fought off a match point to win a tiebreaker, 11-9, and clinch the first point with an 9-8 win.
Oklahoma State tied the score thanks to a straight set win by Oleksandr Nedovyesov over Rosa in No. 1 singles. Tachibana and Nuesslein completed a successful day by pushing the Owls back on top with straight set wins at No. 4 and No. 3 singles, and freshman Jonathan Chang closed out the match with a straight set win at No. 6.
Rice will meet the winner of the Texas A&M-Fresno State match tomorrow at 1 p.m. with a berth in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships at the Boar’s Head Sports Club, hosted by the University of Virginia.
Singles:
1. Oleksandr Nedovyesov (OSU) def. Bruno Rosa (Rice) 6-2, 6-2
2. Anton Bobytskyi (OSU) vs. Oscar Podlewski (Rice) DNF
3. Michael Nuesslein (Rice) def. Ilija Martinoski (OSU) 6-3, 6-1
4. Isamu Tachibana (Rice) def. Aleksey Bessonov (OSU) 6-3, 6-0
5. Eric West (OSU) vs. Sam Garforth-Bles (Rice) DNF
6. Jonathan Chang (Rice) def. Maximilian Kuhn (OSU) 6-1, 7-6 (5)
Doubles:
1. Rosa-Podlewski (Rice) def. (15) Nedovyesov-Bessonov (OSU) 9-8 (9).
2. Nusslein-Tachibana (Rice) def. Bobytskyi-West (OSU) 9-7.
3. Kuhn-Martinoski (OSU) def. Garforth-Bles-Polyakov (Fresno State) 9-8 (7)
Order of Finish:
Singles: 1, 4, 3, 6*
Doubles: 2, 3, 1
