Sooners Defeat No. 35 Owls, 4-3

April 3, 2009

NORMAN, Okla. -- The 41st-ranked University of Oklahoma men's tennis team (10-7, 0-3 Big 12) downed No. 35 Rice, 4-3, at the Headington Family Tennis Center Friday.

“This was a great win over Rice today,” OU head coach Paul Lockwood said. “We played with a lot of heart out there.”

OU began the match sweeping Rice in doubles competition and gaining the early 1-0 lead.

At the No. 1 position senior Sergey Avdeyev and sophomore Ionut Beleleu teamed up to defeat Rice's Christoph Müller and Tobias Scheil, ranked the 46th best doubles team nationally, 8-6.

Junior Andrei Daescu and sophomore David Pultr, No. 45 nationally, continue to shine in doubles competition as they defeated the Owl's Bruno Rosa and Isamu Tachibana, 8-3, at the No. 2 position.

Rounding out the doubles sweep for the Sooners was freshman George Chanturia and junior Blake Boswell. They defeated Rice's Sam Garforth-Bles and Dennis Polyakov, 8-1.

“Our doubles was probably the best it has been all year,” Lockwood said. “That got us off on the right foot and then we backed that up with solid singles play at all 6 positions.”

In singles action OU claimed victories at the No. 3, 4 and 6 positions. Pultr was the first to claim victory for the Sooners. He defeated Rice's Garforth-Bles 6-3, 6-2, at the No. 3 position.

At the No. 6 position, Boswell beat the Owl's Polyakov 6-4, 6-2. Securing the win for the Sooners was Beleleu, who claimed identical set victories over Rice's Scheil 6-3, 6-3.

Next up OU travels to No. 49 Nebraska, Sunday, April 5. The match is set to begin at 11 a.m. For updated results following the match check SoonerSports.com.

Rice 3, Oklahoma 4

Doubles
1. Avdeyev/Beleleu (OU) def. Müller/Scheil (Rice), 8-6
2. Daescu/Pultr (OU) def. Rosa/Tachibana (Rice), 8-3
3. Chanturia/Boswell (OU) def. Garforth-Bles/Polyakov (Rice), 8-1
Order of finish: 3, 2, 1

Singles
1. Bruno Rosa (Rice) def. Andrei Daescu (OU), 7-6, 4-6, 1-0(6)
2. Christoph Müller (Rice) def. Sergey Avdeyev (OU), 3-6, 6-3, 1-0(6)
3. David Pultr (OU) def. Sam Garforth-Bles (Rice), 6-3, 6-2
4. Ionut Beleleu (OU) def. Tobias Scheil (Rice), 6-3, 6-3
5. Isamu Tachibana (Rice) def. George Chanturia (OU), 6-2, 6-2
6. Blake Boswell (OU) def. Dennis Polyakov (Rice), 6-4, 6-2
Order of finish: 3, 5, 6, 4*, 2, 1

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