March 25, 2008

IRVING - Bruno Rosa was named Conference USA Player of the Week Monday afternoon by the league office after leading the Rice men's tennis team to a trio of ranked victories at the Rice Invitational last weekend.

It was Rosa's third honor of 2008 as the Owls (13-5) have won their home tournament for the eighth time over the last 12 seasons.

The Brazilian clinched all three victories at the event, including a comeback 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 triumph against No. 45 Thomas Liversage of San Diego to cap the weekend. He is now 15-3 in singles play on the season and has won eight of his last 10 matches.

Rosa also broke in a new doubles partner, Dennis Polyakov, with a trio of victories at the No. 3 position that featured a dramatic 9-8 (4) win to clinch the doubles point against Middle Tennessee State.

"Bruno did a fantastic job, but I'm also proud of how the team played as a whole last weekend," head coach Ron Smarr said. "We came through and competed hard up and down the line."

The Owls also check in at No. 22 in the latest ITA team rankings that were released Tuesday by the governing body of college tennis.

Rice squares off with No. 11 Tulsa in a key C-USA match on April 2nd. First serve against the Golden Hurricane is slated for 1:30pm. Admission is free to Jake Hess Stadium.