HOUSTON – Juri Reckow (Hamburg, Germany) won his 12th singles point in 14 tries, leading UTSA men's tennis to a 5-2 win at Rice on Saturday afternoon at the George R. Brown Tennis Center.
UTSA (12-6) completed a two-match sweep of Rice (8-9), as the Roadrunners also posted a Jan. 16 5-2 win over the Owls in San Antonio, the first match of the year for UTSA.
"Today was a great team win," UTSA head coach Sergey Avdeyev said. "We played very well in doubles and that carried into singles. Rice is a very good team and we won lots of deciding points, which was very clutch from our guys. We had to deal with the adversity of rain delays and I felt like our guys embraced it well and stayed in the moment. We have a lot of confidence and we are enjoying every bit of it. We all worked very hard to get to that level. I can't wait for the next match and to get to see the guys compete again."
Reckow improved to 12-2 in singles in 2021 with a 6-3, 6-0 dispatching of court 1 and Sumit Sarkar.
UTSA also saw Joao Ceolin (Palontina, Brazil) improve to 10-3 in singles with a 6-2, 6-3 win on court 2.
Javier Gonzalez (San Fernando, Chile) posted a 6-3, 6-7 (10-12), 6-3 win on court 4 and Javier Rodriguez (Trujillo, Peru) earned a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win on court 6.
In doubles, UTSA won on courts 2 and 3, getting a win from Reckow and Kai Breitbach (Kaarst, Germany), 6-4, on court 2, and Gonzalez and Garrett Skelly (The Woodlands, Texas) teamed for a 6-3 win on court 3.
The Roadrunners will wrap up their regular season schedule on Saturday, hosting UT Arlington, a team that UTSA posted a 4-1 win over on Feb. 27.
Singles competition
1. Juri Reckow (UTSA) def. Sumit Sarkar (RICE) 6-3, 6-0
2. Joao Ceolin (UTSA) def. Jacob Eskeland (RICE) 6-2, 6-3
3. Mohamed Abdel-Aziz (RICE) def. Kai Breitbach (UTSA) 4-6, 6-4, 6-0
4. Javier Gonzalez (UTSA) def. Campbell Salmon (RICE) 6-3, 6-7 (10-12), 6-3
5. Wes Barnett (RICE) def. Slava Gulin (UTSA) 6-2, 7-6
6. Javier Rodriguez (UTSA) def. Trinity Grear (RICE) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
Doubles competition
1. Conrad Russell/Sumit Sarkar (RICE) vs. Joao Ceolin/Slava Gulin (UTSA) 6-5, unfinished
2. Kai Breitbach/Juri Reckow (UTSA) def. Jacob Eskeland/AJ Valenty (RICE) 6-4
3. Javier Gonzalez/Garrett Skelly (UTSA) def. Wes Barnett/Trinity Grear (RICE) 6-3
- UTSA -
