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Weekly Men's Tennis Notes.pdf
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William Barker, a junior from Solihull, England, moved to 3-0 in the dual season, picking up a pair of wins from the No.2 singles position. He defeated Texas Techs Diederik de Groot, 6-4, 6-2, and Abilene Christians Julien Cuzatella, 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, helping the Owls to a pair of wins. He and twin brother Richard also earned their first doubles win in dual play.
NOTES FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE Boise State - The Broncos travel east this week to Boston, Mass., to play in the Harvard Classic. The four teams playing in the tournament, Feb. 8-9, are host Harvard, Boise State, Clemson and No. 18 Minnesota.
Fresno State - The Bulldogs come home this weekend after three road matches to face Sacramento State Feb. 8 and San Francisco Feb. 9. After a, 4-3, win over UC Irvine to open the season, Fresno State faced off with top-ranked UCLA, falling, 7-0. The next day, the Bulldogs almost pulled off the upset, falling, 4-3, to seventh-ranked USC.
Hawaii - The Rainbows entered compeititon this winter, suffering a 5-2 loss to Virginia. UH is led this season by Reginaldo Moralejo who won his first match of the season from the No. 1 position. Hawaiis next match is the beginning of a two week California road trip that includes seven dates. San Francisco on Feb. 7 begins the tour.
Nevada - The Wolf Pack begin the 2003 campaign Feb. 7 in Colorado Springs with three matches in as many days. Nevada will face Air Force, Montana State and Denver, respectively.
Rice - The Owls won both ends of a doubleheader, squeaking past Texas Tech, 4-3, in the morning and cruising to a, 7-0, victory over Division II foe Abilene Christian later in the day to remain undefeated on the season. The Owls (4-0) swept the doubles matches vs. the Red Raiders and that would be the difference after Tech won three singles matches to bring it down to the wire. Rice is off this weekend before traveling to Florida to face Florida and Florida State.
SMU - The Mustangs lost to the No. 3 Baylor, falling to 1-3 on the season. The Mustang tandem of Johan Brunstrom and Henrik Soderberg won the No. 1 doubles match over the No. 48 ranked team of Zoltan Papp and Benjamin Becker in a tiebreak. The Bears won the No. 2 and No. 3 singles matches to clinch the first points of the match. SMU returns to action Feb. 9 at the home opener which features a doubleheader against Lamar and Oral Roberts.
Tulsa - The Golden Hurricane (3-2) are six matches through their nine-match season-opening home stand. The Jan. 18 match with Hampton was cancelled. Senior Dustin Taylor has been a bright mark for the Cane, remaining undefeated at 4-0. Tulsa is off this weekend, but will face Vanderbilt and New Mexico Feb. 8-9, and Arkansas on the 11th.
ITA RANKINGS - SMU begins the 2003 season ranked 30th in the nation, earning 1,590 points. Rice is just behind the Mustangs, landing 36th with 1,328 points. Tulsa (45), Fresno State (60) and Boise State (72) round out WAC teams in the top 75.
The Rice twin duo of juniors Richard and William Barker start off the 2003 season ranked number one in the country after capturing the 2002 Omni Hotels National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships doubles title in November. It was the first indoor national men's doubles title in Rice history.
Fellow Owl, freshman Robert Searle, is the highest ranked WAC athlete, beginning the season at No. 16 in the nation.
WAC TOURNAMENT TO BE HELD IN BOISE This season, the Western Athletic Conference Tournament will be held in Boise, Idaho at the Appleton Tennis Courts on the campus of Boise State, April 25-27. The 2002 champion SMU Mustangs will look to defend their title.