ABILENE – Abilene Christian's 14th-ranked men's tennis team played a couple of shortened matches on the road Saturday as it followed up a 6-1 win at Prairie View with a 4-0, singles-only defeat at Rice.
Two of the Wildcats' matches went unfinished vs. the Panthers due to their scheduled match at Rice, and since the Owls lost 4-3 earlier in the day vs. Penn State, their coaches opted to play singles first in order to reach a faster result.
Rice's decision didn't seem to bother ACU head coach
Hutton Jones too much since his team, which is still battling various injuries, plays again Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. at 19th-ranked Incarnate Word.
“We're not quite at full strength, but I'm sure we'll have a much better team once we're all healthy, ” he said. “Right now we're kind of limping along and we ended up stopping two of our matches at Prairie View in order to get to Rice on time. Prairie View has a good team, and I'm convinced they'll win the SWAC.”
The Wildcats (9-6) were challenged early by the Panthers and were fortunate to win two of three doubles contests. The No. 2 team of Borja Cortes and
Nicklas Wingord defeated Ronald Chidzikwe and Karim Fotso, 8-3, for ACU's first point, but at No. 1, Jackson Varney and Craig Wiltz surprised the team of
Hans Hach and
Guilherme Gesser, 8-5. The defeat was only Hach's third of the year through 14 matches.
At No. 3, however, the freshman team of
Jason Proctor and
Marco Bensley edged David Aldaz and Rasaki Gbadamosi, 9-7.
ACU continued to have some tough singles battles vs. the Panthers, but ended up winning the first four matches while leaving Hach's match at No. 1 and Proctor's at No. 4 unfinished.
Gesser won at No. 2, beating Fotso, 6-0, 6-3, while Cortes defeated Wiltz at No. 3, 6-3, 7-5. Bensley and
Alfredo Desiati were victorious at No. 5 and 6, respectively, with scores of 6-4, 6-4 and 6-3, 6-4.
ACU's singles' success did not carry over into its match at Rice; however, the Wildcats may have won at No. 1 and 3 if those matches featuring Hach and Proctor had been allowed to continue. Hach won his second set vs. Jonathan Chang and was only trailing 4-2 in the third when the match was called. Proctor also won in the second set, 6-3, vs. Philipp Seifert to tie their match at 1-1.
#14 Abilene Christian 6, Prairie View A&M 1
Mar 09, 2013 at Prairie View, Texas
Singles competition
1. Jackson Varney (PVAM) vs. #2
Hans Hach (ACUM) unfinished
2.
Guilherme Gesser (ACUM) def. Karim Fotso (PVAM) 6-0, 6-3
3. #42 Borja Cortes (ACUM) def. Craig Wiltz (PVAM) 6-3, 7-5
4. Ronald Chidzikwe (PVAM) vs.
Jason Proctor (ACUM) unfinished
5.
Marco Bensley (ACUM) def. Daniel Vasquez (PVAM) 6-4, 6-4
6. #45
Alfredo Desiati (ACUM) def. Jonathan Dingle (PVAM) 6-3, 6-4
Doubles competition
1. Jackson Varney/Craig Wiltz (PVAM) def.
Hans Hach/
Guilherme Gesser (ACUM) 8-5
2. Borja Cortes/
Nicklas Wingord (ACUM) def. Ronald Chidzikwe/Karim Fotso (PVAM) 8-3
3.
Jason Proctor/
Marco Bensley (ACUM) def. David Aldaz/Rasaki Gbadamosi (PVAM) 9-7
Match Notes
Abilene Christian 9-5; National ranking #14
Prairie View A&M 1-3
Rice 4, Abilene Christian 0
Mar 09, 2013 at Houston, Texas (Jake Hess Tennis Stadium)
Singles competition
1. Jonathan Chang (RICE) vs.
Hans Hach (ACUM) 6-2, 3-6, 4-2, unfinished
2. Adam Gustafsson (RICE) def.
Guilherme Gesser (ACUM) 6-4, 6-1
3. Philipp Seifert (RICE) vs.
Jason Proctor (ACUM) 6-1, 3-6, unfinished
4. Tommy Bennett (RICE) def. Borja Cortés (ACUM) 6-2, 6-2
5. Peter Frank (RICE) def.
Marco Bensley (ACUM) 6-3, 6-1
6. Gustavo Gonzalez (RICE) def.
Alfredo Desiati (ACUM) 7-6, 6-2
Match Notes
Abilene Christian 9-6
Rice 4-8
Order of finish: Singles (2,5,4,6)
Singles will be played first
