SAN ANTONIO — The UTSA men’s tennis team will open the spring season against Rice at noon on Friday and against No. 60 Cornell at 1 p.m. the following afternoon. Both matches taking place at the brand-new George R. Brown Tennis Center in Houston, Texas.
First serve in the Rice contest will inaugurate the Owls’ new home. The Roadrunners scored a 4-3 victory against Rice on April 3, 2014, just their second win in 17 all-time meetings.
The Owls opened the campaign last weekend in Naples, Fla., where they faced top-50 opponents LSU (45h) and TCU (37th) at the Florida Gulf Coast Invitational. Rice split six singles matches with the Tigers and a pair of doubles matches against both squads.
Saturday will mark the second meeting between UTSA and the Big Red. After posting a 13-8 record, last year, Cornell boasst three Northeast regionally-ranked competitors in the No. 14 Stefan Vinti and the fifth-ranked doubles tandem of Chris Vrabel and Bernardo Casares Rosa.
Fifth-year head coach Jeff Kader welcomes back seven veterans from last year's squad that finished 9-17. Headlining the lineup is Tomas Stillman, a senior from Harlingen who is ranked No. 42 nationally in singles. The 2014 Conference USA Newcomer of the Year swept through the Rice Fall Invitational in September with six wins, including a 6-4, 6-3 triumph against David Warren of Rice in the championship match. In last year's dual-match meeting, Stillman sustained a 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 setback against Adam Gustafsson.
Accompanying Stillman are four-time all-conference selection Joel Rubio, a senior from Spain, and two-time all-league honoree Yannick Junger, a senior from Germany. Rubio teamed up with Stillman as one of C-USA's top doubles duo, as they posted a 15-7 record, were ranked as high as No. 16 nationally and earned second-team all-conference accolades.
Other returnees include juniors Eric Buchalter, Diogo Casa and sophomores Fabian Brand and Harley Pearson.
Newcomers who will look to contribute this season include junior transfer Jacob Rother, sophomore transfer Tito Moreiras, sophomore walk-on Ricardo Gonzalez and freshmen Christian Carrillo, Mark Ginting and Joao Riquelme.