Men's Tennis Dropped by No. 24 Rice 4-2

Saturday, January 24

Boca Raton, Fla.

1:00 PM

Florida Atlantic

Rice

1/24/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

Jan. 24, 2009

Final Stats

BOCA RATON, FL - Florida Atlantic University played host to Rice University, ranked no. 24 nationally, at Patch Reef Park Tennis Center. The dual match that lasted more than four and a half hard fought hours concluded with Rice taking the match 4-2. The match marked the third-consecutive match against a nationally ranked top-25 team and all have been within seven days.

"I am proud of our improvement in doubles," said Brandon Stokes, FAU's head coach. "We have some adjustments and work to do with our singles. This improvement and adjustment is characterized by every Owl putting forth better effort every day. We have a long way to go to be where we want to be but, our confidence is growing. Our resiliency and team bond is a strength. We will have a solid week of preparation before us prior to two matches next weekend against very competitive and talented teams."

The match began with three doubles matches. FAU captured two of the three doubles matches to earn the first point of the match. Playing no. 3 doubles FAU's Lawrence Harradine and Santiago Nieto came off the court with an 8-4 victory and the Owls first point. The duo had an emphatic service break to help set the momentum in FAU's favor. Within five minutes, Rice answered at no. 2 doubles defeating FAU's Daniel Vardag and Joshua Scholl 8-4. Attention then turned to no. 1 doubles which saw the teams hold serve through the 16th game of the pro set. FAU's Eddie Majcer and Marc Abdelnour seized the opportunity with aggressive s service returns to put the pressure on Rice. Their persistence paid off with a break of serve, an 8-4 victory and FAU's second-consecutive doubles point in as many matches.

A ten minute intermission saw both teams return to the court with an eye of determination. Rice took the early lead with dominance on courts five and six. Eddie Majcher, playing no. 5, fell to Sam Garforth-Bless, ranked no. 61 nationally, 6-1, 6-0. FAU Newcomer Santiago Nieto soon followed with a 6-2, 6-0 loss at no. 6. On court two, Daniel Vardag knew that Rice held a 2-1 advantage. Vardag was fighting for the second set. At break point in the seventh game, Vardag played a fantastic offensive point but Rice's Christopher Muller dug out a fine defensive lob that fell in and recaptured the momentum of the set. The 6-2, 6-4 loss gave Rice a 3-1 advantage.

Three singles matches remained with Rice needing just one point for the match. On court one Marc Abdelnour led FAU's charge with a dramatic 6-2, 7-6 (1) straight set victory over Bruno Rosa, ranked no. 26 nationally. Abdelnour broke serve at 4-5 in the second to continue the set. The two traded convincing service holds which led the tiebreaker and dominant performance by Abdelnour. Abdelnour's victory continues three seasons of single's upset versus ranked opponents and is the highest ranked opponent FAU has defeated.

More importantly to the team, the victory pulled FAU within one at 3-2. Court four and court was in its third set while was finishing the second set holding the first set advantage.

Lawrence Harradine battled Rice's Chong Wang at no. 3 in a riveting match. Both emotion and athleticism were highlighted in the match, a match that FAU's Harradine was broken at 6-5 to force the tiebreaker. Wang took advantage of the changeover to stretch his lead to 4-2 but, saw Harradine answer with solid play to even the score at four. Harradine would eventually fall 7-4 and force a third set. H

Simultaneously, on court four the emotional third set saw FAU's Joshua Scholl jump to a break and a 2-1 advantage. At 40-15 a call fell to Rice and the momentum swung to their advantage strengthening RU's resolve. Scholl continued to battle with the home-court crowd cheering loudly in support but fell 2-6 in the third set.

The loss at no. 4 provided the last point Rice would need to secure the match nearly four hours after the first matches were played. Harradine's match was not concluded because the match had been decided.

Nearly four hours after the first matches started.

"Thank you to all the fans that came out and rooted for us. See you at the Reef 2 p.m. next Friday."

Doubles:
Marc Abdelnour / Eddie Majcher (FAU) def. Mueller/Scheil (RICE) 9-7
Rosa/Wang (RICE) def. Daniel Vardag / Joshua Scholl (FAU) 8-4
Lawrence Harradine / Santiago Nieto (FAU) def. Garforth-Bles/Isamu Tachiabana
(RICE) 8-4

Order of finish: 3,2,1

Singles:
Marc Abdelnour (FAU) def. Rosa (RICE) 6-2, 7-6 (1)
Christopher Muller (RICE) def. Daniel Vardag (FAU) 6-3, 6-4
Lawrence Harradine (FAU) v Chong Wang (RICE) DNF 7-6, 6-7 (4), 1-0 on serve
Toby Scheil (RICE) def. Joshua Scholl (FAU) 6-3, 4-6, 6-2
Garforth-Bles (RICE) def. Eddie Majcher (FAU) 6-1, 6-0
Christian Saravia (RICE) def. Santiago Nieto (FAU) 6-2, 6-0

Order of finish singles: 5,6,2,1,4, DNF @ 3