HOUSTON, Texas – The Old Dominion men’s tennis team (1-0) will travel to the Lone Star State to take on UTSA on Friday, Jan. 23, before traveling to Houston for a showdown on Sunday, Jan. 25 at Rice (1-1) at noon.
Even though Old Dominion and UTSA and Rice are all members of Conference USA, these matches do not count as a league contest.
The Monarchs (1-0) opened their season with a convincing 6-1 victory on Sunday at Navy. Carlos Lopez Villa started the season as the No. 43-ranked singles player in the country and the senior comes to the Alamo City with a 38-2 record over the past two seasons and on a 10-match winning streak.
Also returning for the Tennis Monarchs this season, is junior Zvonimir Podvinski (Zagreb, Croatia) who put together a solid 14-7 record for the Monarchs in singles last season, while playing in the No. 3 and No. 4 slots. ‘Z’ went 9-2 while playing at the No. 3 slot.
Aljosa Piric has also added six highly touted freshmen to his roster, who look to have an instant impact this season. Old Dominion hosts a total of seven dual matches before hosting the 2015 Conference USA Men’s Tennis Tournament on April 16-19 at the Folkes-Stevens Tennis Center.
The Roadrunners (1-1) are coming home after breaking even by spoiling Rice's inaugural match at the George R. Brown Tennis Center last Friday by a 4-3 count. UTSA then fell to No. 60 Cornell by a narrow 4-3 score the following day in Houston.
Friday’s matchup marks ODU's first visit to San Antonio and it will be the Roadrunners’ third overall meeting with the Monarchs, who currently hold a 2-0 series lead over ODU.
UTSA is led by the nation's No. 42-ranked singles player and reigning Conference USA Player of the Week, Tomas Stillman. The senior from Harlingen is undefeated in singles this season (2-0) and has won his last 10 dual matches (23 of last 25 overall) dating back to last season.
Rice enters the weekend with a 1-1 overall record after falling to UTSA but taking down No. 60 ranked Cornell by a score of 4-1.
For a complete look at the men’s single’s rankings, please click HERE.
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