Live Scoring
 
HOUSTON – The University of Texas-Pan American Broncs men's tennis team (0-1) visits the No. 54 Rice University Owls (0-2) on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium.
 
The Broncs
Freshman Thomas-Orestis Panoulas earned honorable mention in the Southland Conference's first player of the week poll after beating No. 29 Texas Tech's No. 1 singles player, Vitor Manzini, 4-6, 6-4, 10-2.
 
Scouting the Owls
The Owls have played a difficult schedule, opening the dual season with a 3-4 loss to No. 29 Texas Tech on January 19 and then following that up with a 1-6 loss to No. 11 Mississippi State two days later.
 
No. 4 singles player Tommy Bennett is 2-0, beating Texas Tech's Gabriel Wanderley 6-3, 6-2 and Mississippi State's Stefan Vinti 1-6, 6-4, 7-5.
 
The Owls took one doubles match in each competition. Against Texas Tech, the Owls won at No. 1 as Jonathan Chang and Peter Frank defeated Manzini and Garbiel Dias 8-7. The No. 2 duo of Bennett and Adam Gustafsson got the win against Mississippi State, 8-6 over Zach White and Ethan Wilkinson.
 
Broncs vs. Owls
The Broncs are 17-21 all-time against the Owls in a series dating back to 1960. This is their first meeting since 2009.
 
Last Time Out
The Broncs are coming off of a 1-6 loss at No. 29 Texas Tech. Thomas-Orestis Panoulas earned the Broncs' lone point, beating Manzini in the No. 1 singles position, 4-6, 6-4, 10-2. Panoulas and partner Victor Alves were doing well at No. 3 doubles, tied 6-6 with Wanderley and Francisco Zambon, but the match was left unfinished after the Red Raiders clinched the doubles point.
 
Southland Scouting Opportunity
The Owls face Lamar at 11 a.m. on the day of their match against the Broncs', give the Broncs a look at the Cardinals' in advance of their April 12 Southland Conference contest.
 
Tough Schedule
The Broncs are challenging themselves this season and currently boast a schedule that includes 10 matches against ranked opponents:
 
Division I ranked opponents (0-1):
1/16 @ No. 29 Texas Tech, L 6-1
1/27 @ No. 54 Rice
2/16 @ No. 15 Baylor
3/19 @ No. 55 Arkansas
3/30 @ No. 67 TCU
4/3 vs. No. 71 Louisiana Lafayette
4/15 @ No. 71 Louisiana Lafayette
 
Division II ranked opponents (0-0):
3/1 vs. No. 44 St. Mary's
3/23 vs. No. 18 Incarnate Word
 
Junior College ranked opponents (0-0):
2/1 vs. No. 7 Laredo Community College
 
Volunteering
After playing for the Broncs last season, sophomore Rolf Niederstrasser is spending this season as a volunteer assistant coach. Niederstrasser won five singles matches and four doubles matches as a freshman.
 
Globetrotters
The Broncs have nine student-athletes on the roster representing seven different countries, including the United States of America, Brazil, Belgium, Greece, India, Indonesia and Sweden. Of the two American Broncs, one is from the Rio Grande Valley. Sanoja calls Mission home.
 
Next Up
The Broncs play their first of 10 dual matches at the newly renovated Orville Cox Tennis Center on Friday, February 1 at 4:00 p.m. against No. 7 Laredo Community College.