April 21, 2007

Houston, Texas - With the score tied at 4-4 in the third set at No. 6 singles, junior Filip Zivojinovic broke serve over SMU junior Adolfo Solares to go up 5-4 and serve out the match. Zivojinovic's 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 win clinched the team victory for No. 2 seed and host Rice at the Jake Hess Tennis Stadium Saturday in Houston. The win also advances the Owls to the 2007 C-USA Men's Tennis Championship match for the second-straight year.

RICE 4, SMU 3

The 30th-ranked Owls improve to 15-10 on the season, while the Mustangs drop to 16-9.

Sunday's title match will be a repeat of the 2006 showdown as top seeded Tulsa (18-6) eliminated No. 4 seed UAB, 4-0, in the first semifinal match of the day.

Rice started the match off by winning the doubles point at the No. 1 and 2 positions. The Owls 53rd-ranked duo of junior Ralph Knupfer and sophomore Tobias Scheil handed junior Alex Skrypko and senior Federico Murgier an 8-2 loss at No. 1. Rice earned the first match point at No. 2 as senior Jason Mok and sophomore Christoph Müller moved pass SMU's freshman Robin Fahgen and junior Oivind Alver, 8-5.

The 48th-ranked Mustangs got on the scoreboard with a win at No. 2 singles. Junior David Kuczer upset Rice's Knupfer, 6-4, 6-1, to even the score at 1-1. Knupfer is currently ranked 120th in the nation.

Rice went back ahead after Scheil took No. 4 singles over Murgier with identical 6-4 game scores and Müller collected a pair of winning 7-5 game scores over Alver at No. 3.

On the stadium court, SMU pulled another upset as No. 79 Skrypko edged 35th-ranked and senior Ben Harknett, 7-5, 6-2 at the top spot and Fahgen defeated Mok, 6-3, 6-2, at No 5 to tie the score at 3-3.

2007 Conference USA Men's Tennis Championship
Houston, Texas * Jake Hess Tennis Stadium
April 20-22, 2007

MATCH SIX SEMIFINALS
#2 Rice (15-10), 4
#3 SMU (16-9), 3

SINGLES
1. #79 Alex Skrypko, SMU def. #36 Ben Harknett, Rice, 7-5, 6-2
2. David Kuczer, SMU def. #120 Ralph Knupfer, Rice, 6-4, 6-1
3. Christoph Müller, Rice def. Oivind Alver, SMU, 7-5, 7-5
4. Tobias Scheil, Rice def. Federico Murgier, SMU, 6-4, 6-4
5. Robin Fahgen, SMU def. Jason Mok, Rice, 6-3, 6-2
6. Filip Zivojinovic, Rice def. Adolfo Solares, SMU, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4

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

DOUBLES
1. #53 Ralph Knupfer/Tobias Scheil, Rice def. Alex Skrypko/Federico Murgier, SMU, 8-2
2. Jason Mok/Christoph Müller, Rice def. Robin Fahgen/Oivind Alver, SMU, 8-5
3. David Kuczer/Adolfo Solares, SMU vs. Ben Harknett/Dennis Polyakov, Rice, DNF (8-7)

Order of Finish: 1, 2