Rice Tops Southern Miss
April 21, 2006 Tulsa, Okla. - Top-seeded Rice prevailed in its quarterfinal match against eighth-seeded Southern Miss on Friday at the 2006 Conference USA Men's Tennis Championship. The 28th-ranked Owls registered the 4-0 victory despite not playing with their regular No. 1 and No. 3 singles players. The victory sets up a semifinal match on Saturday at 12 p.m. CT, with No. 4 UAB, who knocked off No. 5 UCF in the first quarterfinal of the day. "We played really well. Obviously they gave us a pretty good battle," Rice Head Coach Ron Smarr said. "And with us not playing with our one and three guys, it makes a difference against anybody. They competed hard, hats off to Southern Miss." The doubles teams of Tony Haerle and Filip Zivojinovic, and Ben Harknett and Christoph Muller both won their matches, 8-3 and 8-0, respectively, to give the Owls the point in that category, while Zivojinovic, Jason Mok and Rodrigo Gabriel all won their singles matches to reach the four points necessary to advance. Gabriel scored the first singles point with a 6-2, 6-2 win over the Golden Eagles' Andrew Poole. In the No. 3 singles match, Zivojinovic tallied the second point with a 6-2, 6-1 triumph over Juan Garzon. Mok finished off the sweep with 6-3, 6-4 victory over Dylan Mezey. Junior Ben Harknett, who replaced regular No. 1 player Robert Searle, split a pair of sets with the Golden Eagles' No. 1 player Marc Lux in a match that was not completed. Searle could see action in Saturday's semifinal match with UAB, but that has yet to be determined. This is the Owls first appearance in the C-USA Championship. Rice was runner-up at the WAC Championship in 2005 after winning the title in 2004. Match #2 - 11:00 a.m. - (1) Rice def. (8) Southern Miss, 4-2 Doubles
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