Rice University
Old Dominion
Monarchs Rally Past Owls
1/25/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
The Rice men's tennis team saw a strong start slip away as Old Dominion stormed back from losses in five of six first singles sets to take three, three-set matches and grab a 4-2 win at the George R. Brown Tennis Center in Houston on Sunday.
"This is a tough one." Rice head coach Efe Ustundag said. "We just didn't put them away and that's a shame. We never really capitalized on being up and with the lead. We kept playing to in way where we were hoping they'd give it to us. We didn't take it from them."
The Owls were riding a three-match winning streak heading into Sunday after a season-opening loss to UTSA. Old Dominion had opened their Texas road swing with a 5-2 win over those same Roadrunners on Friday in San Antonio.
"We knew that this was team that fights very hard. We told our guys you're going have a chance to jump on these guys early, but if you don't put them away, they will find ways to get back into the match, and that's exactly what happened," Ustundag noted.
The doubles point came down to a decisive tiebreaker on court two, the first of four tiebreakers on the afternoon, and Srikar Alla and Jamie Malik handed the Owls the lead with a 7-3 win heading into singles.
Malik and Alla capped the Owls success in five of the six opening set of singles by winning tiebreakers, but only Adam Gustafsson was the only one of the five to carry his momentum into the second set, closing out ODU's Theophile Lanthiez, 6-3, 6-3.
The Monarchs matched Gustafsson's win with a victory on court four, and then closed it out with wins over Malik and Alla in three sets.
After five home matches to open the year, the Owls will hit the road for the first time in 2015 next weekend with duals vs. Mississippi State and Texas Tech on Friday and Saturday in Starkville, MS.
Old Dominion 4, #75 Rice 2
1/25/2015 at Houston, TX
Singles competition
1. #42 Carlos Lopez Villa (ODU) def. Srikar Alla (RICE) 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-2
2. Adam Moundir (ODU) def. Jamie Malik (RICE) 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 7-5
3. Michael Weindl (ODU) def. Max Andrews (RICE) 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
4. Adam Gustafsson (RICE) def. Theophile Lanthiez (ODU) 6-3, 6-3
5. David Warren (RICE) vs. Javier Jover Maestre (ODU) 6-4, 6-7 (2-7), 1-0, unfinished
6. Zvonimir Podvinski (ODU) def. Gustavo Gonzalez (RICE) 6-1, 6-3
Doubles competition
1. Michael Weindl/Adam Moundir (ODU) def. Max Andrews/David Warren (RICE) 6-3
2. Srikar Alla/Jamie Malik (RICE) def. Carlos Lopez Villa/Theophile Lanthiez (ODU) 7-6 (7-3)
3. Adam Gustafsson/Gustavo Gonzalez (RICE) def. Zvonimir Podvinski/Javier Jover Maestre (ODU) 6-3
Match Notes:
Old Dominion 3-0/2-0
Rice 3-2/0-2; National ranking #75
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (6,4,3,2,1)
T-3:03
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Players Mentioned
