BATON ROUGE – Rice men’s tennis fell 5-2 to LSU on Monday at the LSU Tennis Complex.
The Owls (3-3) were unable to secure the doubles point against LSU. Yair Sarouk and Kabeer Kapasi dropped a 6-3 decision to Erik Arutiunian and Matias Ponce de Leon on court two, while Tommy Czaplinski and Rafael Botran fell 6-2 to Olaf Pieczkowski and Enzo Kohlmann on court three. Petro Kuzmenok and Santiago Navarro were tied 3-3 on court one when doubles play was halted.
LSU opened singles play with wins on courts two and six, as Arutiunian defeated Navarro 6-3, 6-2 and Sasa Markovic topped Gabriel Porras 6-2, 6-1. Kapasi put Rice on the board with a straight-set win over Andrej Loncarevic, 6-4, 6-0, on court four. LSU then clinched the match shortly after when Kohlmann edged Botran 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 on court three.
Play continued after the clinch. Sarouk battled to a three-set match but fell to Ponce de Leon 6-2, 6-7, 6-3. Kuzmenok closed the match on a high note for the Owls, earning a 6-2, 6-7, 6-4 victory over Pieczkowski on court one.
Rice will return to action next week when it hosts the 25K PTT tournament before resuming team play Feb. 20-22 in Murfreesboro, Tenn., against Old Dominion, Utah and Middle Tennessee.
RESULTS
DOUBLES
P. Kuzmenok/S. Navarro (RICE) vs S. Markovic/A. Loncarevic (LSU) 3-3 unfinished
E. Arutiunain/M. Ponce de Leon (LSU) def. Y. Sarouk/K. Kapasi (RICE) 6-3
O. Pieczkowski/E. Kohlmann (LSU) def. T. Czaplinski/R. Botran (RICE) 6-2
Order of Finish: 2, 3
SINGLES
P. Kuzmenok (RICE) def. O. Pieczkowski (LSU) 6-2, 6-7, 6-4
E. Arutiunian (LSU) def. S. Navarro (RICE) 6-3, 6-2
E. Kohlmann (LSU) def. R. Botran (RICE) 6-2, 4-6, 6-1
K. Kapasi (RICE) def. A. Loncarevic (LSU) 6-4, 6-0
M. Ponce de Leon (LSU) def. Y. Sarouk (RICE) 6-2, 6-7, 6-3
S. Markovic (LSU) def. G. Porras (RICE) 6-2, 6-1
Order of Finish: 2, 6, 4, 3, 5, 1
