Rico Comes Back To Advance at National Indoor
11/4/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Nov. 4, 2004
Ann Arbor, Mich. - In the first day of play at the 2004 National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships at Ann Arbor, Mich. Pepperdine's Pedro Rico defeated Dante Cipulli of Southwest Baptist, 6-7 (1), 6-2, 6-2.
Advancing as expected, the fourth-ranked Rico could play two matches Friday pending a win in his first. The tournament's second singles round will begin Friday following doubles play when Rico takes on Ryler DeHeart (Illinois). DeHart also came from a set down Thursday to beat Arizona's Roger Matalonga, 1-6, 6-2, 6-4 in his first round match.
DeHeart, who is not ranked in the tournament is ranked 95th in the ITA preseason poll. Rico, who is ranked eighth by the ITA occupies the fourth seed in this weekend's 32-man tournament.
Should Rico beat DeHeart, he will advance to take on the winner of the (5-8)Sven Swinnen (Oregon)- Arnaud Lecloerec (Virginia Commonwealth) match in Friday's quarterfinals.
