Men's Tennis preview: Rice
March 16, 2009 WHAT: No. 10 Texas (11-3) hosts No. 31 Rice (10-5). WHEN: Tuesday, March 17 – 6 p.m. Central WHERE: Penick-Allison Tennis Center – Austin, Texas LIVE SCORING: Click here for live scoring. LAST TEXAS-RICE MEETING: Texas defeated Rice by a 4-3 count on Feb. 24, 2008 in Houston. LAST TIME OUT: Texas nearly dealt No. 1 Virginia its first loss of the season before falling in the end, 4-3 on March 15 in Austin. THE 2009 LONGHORNS: Ninth-year head coach Michael Center and assistant coach Ricardo Rubio, the 2008 ITA National Assistant Coach of the Year, welcome four singles starters – each of whom have earned All-America honors as Longhorns - from last year’s NCAA runner-up squad. Junior Dimitar Kutrovsky returns after holding down the No. 1 singles slot in his first two seasons. The native Bulgarian clinched UT’s 2008 NCAA quarterfinal win over Ohio State and its NCAA semifinal win over UCLA. Sophomores Kellen Damico and Ed Corrie earned ITA doubles All-America honors a season ago and earned a spot on the 2008 NCAA All-Tournament Team at No. 1 doubles. Senior Miguel Reyes Varela, who earned ITA doubles All-America honors as a freshman, was selected to the 2008 NCAA All-Tournament Team at No. 6 singles and at No. 2 doubles with former Longhorn Luis Diaz Barriga.
Junior Josh Zavala teamed up with Kutrovsky to land the No. 3 doubles slot on the 2008 NCAA All-Tournament Team. UT welcomes junior Olivier Sajous, a top-50 standout who played the last two seasons at Florida Atlantic University. |
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