Men's Tennis Falls at Rice, 5-2

Feb. 10, 2008

Final Stats

<?xml:namespace prefix=”st1″ ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags”?>Houston, Texas – The No. 24 University of Miami men’s tennis team dropped just its second road match of the season, falling to No. 23 Rice, 5-2, on Sunday afternoon at Jake Hess Stadium. <?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>

The Hurricanes (4-2) grabbed the early 1-0 lead with the doubles point. The 18^th-ranked tandem of Vivek Subramanian and David Rosenberg routed Rice’s doubles pair of Bruno Rosa and Tobias Scheil, 8-1, in the No. 2 doubles position. After dropping the No. 3 doubles match, 8-3, Miami’s 30^th-ranked duo of All-American Daniel Vallverdu and Carl Sundberg clinched the point for UM with an 8-5 top-flight victory.

In singles competition, the Owls managed to take the 2-1 lead with a wins at the No. 3 and No. 5 positions. The Hurricanes came storming back to knot it at 2-all with a strong straight-sets victory by Carl Sundberg at the No. 4 spot.

But Miami then fell behind, 3-2, as Rice’s 34^th-ranked Christoph Muller knocked off Miami’s 98^th-ranked David Rosenfeld at the No. 2 position. The Owls would go on to claim the 5-2 win with victories in the remaining two singles matches at No. 1 and 6.

“Rice played really well today and they deserve a lot of credit,” said Miami head coach Mario Rincon. “However, our team came out here and played hard, and I’m proud of the effort. Carl [Sundberg] had a good day in both singles and doubles, and it’s great to see that kind of play from a freshman.”

The Hurricanes return home to the NeilSchiffTennisCenter for their next three matches, beginning with a 2 p.m. match versus UCF on Fri., Feb. 15.

No. 23 Rice 5, No. 24 Miami 2

Singles
1. Bruno Rosa (Rice) def. No. 7 Daniel Vallverdu (UM), 6-2, 7-5
2. No. 34 Christoph Muller (Rice) def. No. 98 David Rosenfeld (UM), 6-1, 7-5
3. No. 45 Ralph Knupfer def. Vivek Subramanian (UM), 6-1, 6-2
4. Carl Sundberg (UM) def. Filip Zivojinovic (Rice), 6-4, 6-4
5. Chong Wang (Rice) def. Keith Crowley (UM), 6-3, 6-2
6. Dennis Polyakov (Rice) def. JC Whitner (UM), 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-6)
Order of Finish: 3, 5, 4, 2, 1*, 6

Doubles
1. No. 30 Daniel Vallverdu/Carl Sundberg (UM) def. Ralph Knupfer/Christoph Muller (Rice), 8-5
2. No. 18 Vivek Subramanian/David Rosenfeld (UM) def. Bruno Rosa/Tobias Scheil (Rice), 8-1
3. Chong Wang/Filip Zivojinovic (Rice) def. Keith Crowley/Hector Nieto (UM), 8-3
Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1*