SAN DIEGO, Calif. --- The Anteaters continued their losing streak in their first match as an unranked team falling, 6-1, to the 51st-ranked Owls of Rice in a neutral site match at SDSU Tennis Stadium in San Diego, Calif.
The doubles pairs continued to flip and flop. Ryan Cheung (Irvine / University HS) and Jacob Jung (Upland / Options for Youth HS) found the magic touch winning in the No. 2 slot, 8-4 as UCI (1-9, 0-1) dropped the doubles point.
All six singles went in straight sets with the 73rd-ranked player in the nation, Fabian Matthews (Newport Beach / Corona del Mar HS) continued his run of four straight singles wins beating Harry Fowler, 6-3, 7-6.
UCI returns home on Friday, March 2nd for a 1:00 p.m. match against the 37th-ranked Santa Clara Broncos to try and halt its skid.
#51 Rice 6, UC Irvine 1
SDSU Tennis Stadium – San Diego, Calif.
Doubles
No. 1 – Fowler/Saravia (RICE) def. DeCoster/Matthews (UCI) – 8-5
No. 2 – Cheung/Jung (UCI) def. Chang/Nusslein (RICE) – 8-4
No. 3 – Berger/Garforth-Bles (RICE) def. Gould/Shibahara (UCI) – 8-4
Rice wins the doubles point.
Singles
No. 1 – Fabian Matthews (UCI) def. Harry Fowler (RICE) – 6-3, 7-6
No. 2 – Sam Garforth-Bles (RICE) def. Sam Gould (UCI) –7-6, 7-5
No. 3 – Jonathan Change (RICE) def. Jacob Jung (UCI) – 6-4, 6-1
No. 4 – Christian Saravia (RICE) def. Mika DeCoster (UCI) – 6-1, 6-0
No. 5 – Michael Nusslein (RICE) def. Ryan Cheung (UCI) – 6-4, 6-3
No. 6 – Phillipp Seifert (RICE) def. Eric Gast (UCI) – 6-1, 6-0
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