Men's tennis begins year with fundraiser against alumni Owls

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by Shay Gilmore

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The Rice Reunion is the annual match held at the Jake Hess Stadium between current team members and former letterwinners for the Rice men's team.

"Well, needless to say, we beat the ex-players," said junior Ben Pritchett, highlighting the advantages of youth over wisdom and age.

The matches were held to raise money to cover the team's operating expenses this year.

Concerning the match, Head Coach Larry Turville said, "It's always very successful, and it's a great opportunity for our guys to meet up with some former All-Americans and to have a little fun, of course. This weekend the team will travel Beaumont to participate in the Pinewood Invitational.

Junior Chris Sankey said, "Although this tournament won't really have any effect on our rank or anything, it should be a good opportunity for us to get some wins in and to build up our confidence."

Turville said, "The main point of our fall matches is get ourselves oriented, ready and rolling for the spring."

Fall tournaments are strictly individual in setup; so while Rice as a team is not up for any rank augmentation, some players do have the opportunity to help their individual rankings in the Pinewood tournament.

In order to judge where everyone will stand as far as the spring roster will go, the team plans to experiment with singles placement and doubles combinations.

Pritchett said, "By playing in these types of individual tournaments in the fall, we hope to get a feel for what our individual lineup will be like in the spring."

With only one freshman, Robert Collins, joining the men's team this year, the Owls have one of the most experienced teams they have had in a long time.

"Everyone looks to be very deep and very strong this year," senior John Elsberry said, "I don't anticipate any weaknesses in our lineup."

Of course, this season will be the last season for the men's team to compete in the Southwest Conference. The team will join the Western Athletic Conference next fall.

Regarding the move to the WAC, Pritchett said, "I don't think our standing should change all that much."

Some of the teams that Rice will join in the WAC are Texas Christian University and the University of New Mexico. Both schools are nationally-ranked powerhouses.

Pritchett said, "Since we already know these teams and how we fare against these programs, we feel that we should be able to hold our own in the WAC at least as well as we have in the SWC."

Sankey said, "No one on the team dreads playing the University of Hawaii."

Upon its return from Beaumont, the men's team will begin preparation for the University of Southwest Louisiana Rolex Invitational to be held in Lafayette next weekend.

This item appeared in the Sports section of the September 29, 1995 issue.

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