Oct. 12, 2007

MIDLAND - The Rice men's tennis team competed at the Midland Invitational Friday at the Midland Racquet Club.

Filip Zivojinovic cruised to a 6-2 victory over Texas-Arlington's Hugo Taracido in the opening set. Zivojinovic was ahead 2-1 in the second set before Taracide was forced to retire. The Serbia native lost a hard-fought 6-3, 3-7, 7-6 decision to Kellen Damico of Texas in the second round.

Dennis Polyakov got out to a quick start with a 6-0 win Colin Mascall of Arkansas. Mascall evened the match with a 7-6 second set triumph. Polyakov regrouped and gutted out a 7-6 win in the deciding set before bowing out against Texas A&M's Jerry Makowski 7-5, 6-2 in the second round.

Vishnu Rajam had a tough day losing two-straight set matches to SMU's Darren Walsh and Texas Tech's Christian Rojmar.

The Owls return to action Saturday with doubles play. Polyakov and Zivojinovic earned a first round bye after Hugo Taracido and Gonzalo Bienzobas withdrew. The duo faces off against No. 1 seed Colin Mascall and Blake Strode of Arkansas.