Northwestern University Athletics
NU Meets Rice for Mid-Week Challenge
3/24/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Mar. 24, 2015
| #19 Northwestern (12-5) at Rice (7-11) |
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| Date | Wednesday, Mar. 25 | 5 p.m. |
| Location | George R. Brown Tennis Center | Houston, Texas |
| Live Scoring | RiceOwls.com |
EVANSTON, Ill. -- After a week off, No. 19 Northwestern travels to Rice for a 5 p.m. match Wednesday evening. This is one of NU's last non-conference meetings of the season before a slew of Big Ten opponents in the coming weeks.
Boasting a 12-5 season record, the `Cats have been dominant of late and have won six dual matches in a row. They most recently defeated then No. 23 Columbia, a 4-3 comeback win in Evanston.
This significant victory propelled Northwestern to No. 14 in the ITA rankings last week, a new season record and the team's highest position in over a decade. Having played no matches this past week, however, the `Cats are now No. 19.
In singles rankings, Sam Shropshire checks in at No. 92, and Strong Kirchheimer is No. 124.
Along with the team's success, several Wildcat individuals are also on current unbeaten streaks. Kirchheimer has mirrored the team's run with six straight singles victories. Alp Horoz and Mihir Kumar have dominated at No. 3 doubles in racking up nine consecutive wins.
Kumar and Logan Staggs have also each won three singles matches in a row.
Rice is 7-11 on the season and does not currently have any ranked singles or doubles players on its roster. Last weekend, the Owls took a 4-2 loss against No. 65 Tulane.
A year ago, the `Cats defeated Rice 4-0 at home.
This coming weekend, Northwestern also hosts conference foes Ohio State on Friday and Penn State on Sunday, followed by IUPUI Sunday night.
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