Men's Tennis Tops Indiana 5-2

Thursday, January 24

Louisville, Ky.

3:30 PM ET

University of Louisville

Indiana

January 24, 2002 | Men's Tennis

Jan. 24, 2002

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The University of Louisville men's tennis team defeated Indiana 5-2 Thursday at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center. IU is ranked No. 46 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association preseason rankings, Louisville is No. 67. The victory also extends the Cardinals' home winning streak to 20 matches.

Indiana began the match by winning the doubles point as the team of Rahman Smiley and Ryan Recht defeated Cody Conley 8-6 at No. 1 and Reid Strand and Jakub Praibis beat Matt Mayer and Brent McCombe 8-3 at No. 3. Louisville's Alex Sivertsen and Octavian Nicodim outlasted Mila Rakvica and Zach Held 9-7 for Louisville's only doubles win.

In singles action, Conley defeated Rakvica 7-6, 6-2 at the top seed. Rakvica is currently ranked 87th in the ITA rankings. Smiley notched Indiana's only singles point with his 6-2, 7-5 win over Sivertsen at No. 2. Carvalho edged Praibis in three sets 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 at the three-spot. Nicodim defeated Held 6-3, 7-5 at No. 4, while Mayer defeated Recht 6-3, 6-4 at No. 5 and McCombe closed out the singles with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Tom Bagnato at the six-spot.

"This was a big win for the team and for the program," said U of L head coach Rex Ecarma. "It was also a big win for Cody Conley. He is getting some confidence and settling in as our No. 1 player. He has legitimate potential to be in the ITA rankings." Louisville (3-0) will travel to Murfreesboro, Tenn. to play No. 37 Middle Tennessee State on Saturday, Jan. 26.


Louisville Men's Tennis Results - 1/24/02vs. Indiana
SINGLES1 - Cody Conley (UL) d. Milan Rakvica (IU) 7-6, 6-22 - Rahman Smiley (IU) d. Alex Sivertsen (UL) 6-2, 7-53 - Paulo Carvalho (UL) d. Jakub Praibis (IU) 6-4, 3-6, 7-54 - Octavian Nicodim (UL) d. Zach Held (IU) 6-3, 7-55 - Matt Mayer (UL) d. Ryan Recht (IU) 6-3, 6-46 - Brent McCombe (UL) d. Tom Bagnato (IU) 6-4, 6-4DOUBLES1 - Recht/Smiley (IU) d. Conley/Carvalho (UL) 8-62 - Sivertsen/Nicodim (UL) d. Rakvica/Held (IU) 9-73 - Reid Strand/Praibis (IU) d. Mayer/Brent McCombe (UL) 8-3