Baldo and Niculescu Win Draws at Rice Invitational

Sunday, October 2

Houston, Texas

All Day

Troy University

Rice Collegiate Invitational

Baldo and Niculescu Win Draws at Rice Invitational

10/2/2016 3:43:00 PM | Tennis (M)

By: Russ Schaffer

HOUSTON, Texas – The Troy men's tennis team wrapped up a successful weekend at the Rice Invitational with Andre Baldo winning a draw and Gabriel Niculescu winning a consolation draw.

Baldo capped off an undefeated weekend by winning in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 over Nikita Pereverzin of Army to capture the singles C draw.

For Niculescu, it was the perfect opening weekend to start his Trojan career after transferring from Chicago State. Niculescu won the first set 6-3, lost 3-6 in the second and battled back to win the third set, and match, 1-0 (6).

Besides the individual accomplishments, the duo of Baldo and Niculescu was also the most successful doubles pairing on the weekend. After dropping the first doubles match 4-8, the two responded with an 8-5 against USTA.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH
After being named second team All-WAC at Chicago State last season, Niculescu showed his potential in both singles and doubles play by winning matches on every day of play in both phases of the game.

NOTEWORTHY
•  Troy has now had two singles champions in a tournament in two of the last three fall tournaments competed in. Francisco Yim Kim and Calum McKinlay both won in the Big Easy Tennis Classic Oct. 24, 2015.

•  On the weekend, Troy was not shut out in any set.

•  Andy Lau and Pablo Moreno tied for the team lead last season with seven doubles wins. Nicelscu may fill the void left in Baldo's other doubles partner left by Giovani Samaha.

UP NEXT
The Trojans will be back in action this weekend at the Mercer Gridiron Classic in Macon, Ga.

For more information on Troy tennis, as well as all of Troy Athletics, visit TroyTrojans.com. Fans can also find the Trojans on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat by searching for Troy Athletics.