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Men's Tennis Championship: Rice 4, SMU 3
MTN Championship

	Jonathan Chang, Rice

April 21, 2012

ORLANDO, Fla. - Rice will be making its seventh semifinal appearance in the Conference USA Men's Tennis Championship as the Owls edged SMU, 4-3, Saturday at the UCF Tennis Complex in Orlando, Fla. The Owls improve to 17-8 on the year and will face No. 2 seed Memphis in one of the two semifinal matches for the right to play for the conference title.

Conference USA Men's Tennis Championship Central

Rice 4, SMU 3

Rice took two of the three double matches to score the first point of the day. The first three single matches that came off the court went to SMU as sophomore Pablo Perez-Esnaola, freshman Arturs Kazijevs and junior Gaston Cuadranti were victorious, giving SMU a 3-1 advantage. Perez-Esnaola defeated senior Christian Saravia, 6-4, 6-2, at No. 2 singles while Kazijevs downed senior Michael Nuesslein, 6-1, 6-4, at No. 3. Cuadranti claimed the Mustang's last point at the top spot as he picked up a 6-3, 7-6 (4) win over senior Sam Garforth-Bles.

Rice regrouped as junior Jonathan Chang scored at No. 4 singles with a 6-3, 6-4 win over SMU sophomore Mischa Nowicki. Sophomore Philipp Seifert evened it out at 3-all with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over senior Robert Sajovich. The final point came down to the No. 5 slot where junior Peter Frank rallied to defeat Joe Hattrup of SMU, 7-6 (4), 6-2.

If you can't make it out to the UCF Tennis Complex, follow live scoring online at Conference USA Men's Tennis Championship Central

MATCH 5
#47 Rice 4, SMU 3
SINGLES
1. Gaston Cuadranti, SMU def. Sam Garforth-Bles, Rice, 6-3, 7-6 (4)
2. Pablo Perez-Esnaola, SMU def. Christian Saravia, Rice, 6-4, 6-2
3. Arturs Kazijevs, SMU def. Michael Nuesslein, Rice, 6-1, 6-4
4. Jonathan Chang, Rice def. Mischa Nowicki, SMU, 6-3, 6-4
5. Peter Frank, Rice def. Joseph Hattrup, SMU, 7-6 (4), 6-2
6. Philipp Seifert, Rice def. Robert Sajovich, SMU 6-4, 6-3

Order of finish: 2, 3, 1, 4, 6, 5

DOUBLES
1. Justin To/Christian Saravia, Rice def. Mischa Nowicki/Pablo Perez-Esnaola, SMU, 8-5
2. Arturs Kazijevs/Tobias Flood, SMU def. Michael Nuesslein/Jonathan Chang, Rice, 8-4,
3. Sam Garforth-Bles/Leif Berger, Rice def. Robert Sajovich/Joseph Hattrup, SMU, 8-5

Order of finish: 1, 2, 3

TEAM RECORDS: #47 Rice (17-8) and SMU (9-11)

2012 C-USA MEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP
UCF Tennis Complex // Orlando, Fla. // April 19-22

FIRST ROUND - Thursday, April 19
Match 1: (9) UCF 4, (8) East Carolina 0

QUARTERFINALS - Friday, April 20
Morning Session
Match 2: (1) Tulsa 4, (9) UCF 3
Match 3: (4) UAB 4, (5) Tulane 1
Afternoon Session
Match 4: (2) Memphis 4, (7) Southern Miss 0
Match 5: (3) Rice 4, (6) SMU 3

SEMIFINALS - Saturday, April 21
Match 6: (1) Tulsa vs. (4) UAB - 1 p.m.
Match 7: (2) Memphis vs. (3) Rice - TBD

CHAMPIONSHIP - Sunday, April 22
Match 8: winner of Match 6 vs. winner of Match 7- TBD

All times are Eastern and subject to change

Weather delays, live stats and video can be found on the Conference USA Men's Tennis Championship Central or UCF's Men's Tennis home pages.

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