Final Stats

HOUSTON, Texas - Rice was able to hold off UTA's comeback bid as the Owls took the season opener 4-2 at the windy George R. Brown Tennis Center on Saturday.

The Owls won the doubles point with a pair of 6-3 decisions at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles. UTA was able to take a brief lead at 2-1 before Rice scored the final 3 points of the match.

"It was a close one, but I was proud of the guys," UTA coach Diego Benitez said. "It was the first match of the year and they are a really tough team. We almost got the win on the road in tough conditions with a lot of win, but the guys played really tough mentally. We came up short in doubles, but we put up some points in singles. We just need to keep working hard, they are disappointed with the loss but have to look back and see the positives. We have a good starting point for the year and will work in the next matches."

Mauricio Del Rio put up UTA's first points of the match with a 6-1, 6-0 decision at No. 5 singles. Jhonathan Gonzalez followed shortly thereafter with a 6-1, 6-3 win at No. 4 to give the Mavericks a 2-1 lead.

The lead was brief as Pablo Colvee was unable to hold off Emanuel Llamas at No. 6.

Daniel Armengol took his opening set 6-3 as the Mavs appeared to inch closer to the season-opening victory. However, he'd fall 6-2 to go to a third set. Mario Muniesa found himself in a close battle at No. 2, but he fell 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) to bring Rice within a point.

With Guanarteme Nuez winning his second set to take things to a third, all eyes turned back to Armengol. Armengol broke Eric Rutledge to bring the third set to within 5-3 and built a love-40 lead and was close to breaking a second time. However, Rutledge battled through the conditions as Armengols final shot fell just inches behind the line.

Nuez's match was left unfinished with UTA leading 5-1 in the third set.

UTA will enjoy a break before it returns to the court at Abilene Christian on Feb. 1.