Rice University
Lamar
Night Owls
2/6/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
UTA Box Score / Lamar Box Score
Jamie Malik, Max Andrews and David Warren won twice in singles to lead the Rice men's tennis team to a sweep of dual matches at the George R. Brown Tennis Center on Friday.
The Owls blanked Texas-Arlington 4-0 on Friday afternoon and then dropped Lamar 6-1 in the first night match at the Owls new tennis center to improve their season record to 5-4.
"It was a nice day overall," Rice head coach Efe Ustundag said. "We started with a lot of energy and we never allowed UTA a chance to get back in the match. In the Lamar match, they had a highly ranked doubles team at No. 1 and we knew that was going to be difficult, but we overcame not playing our best at No. 2 to get the point. In singles, Srikar (Alla) started off his match really well and Max, who had a great match this morning, went down 4-0 in his match and then stormed back and was playing the way he played in the morning."
Ustundag said the Owls had been looking forward to the opportunity of playing under the Brown Center lights for the first time and had altered their practice schedule to have one night practice each week to familiarize themselves with the environment.
"Once a week, we've been out here under the light. Not only is this great because it gives us the ability to play evening matches, it also allows us to break up the practice routine. I think a night match has a really nice feel, especially once the weather warms up a little bit. I think it's going to be fun to have people out here for some of the midweek matches we have later in the year" Ustundag noted.
The Owls will move indoors for their final match of the weekend, when they travel to Austin on Sunday to take on No. 9 Texas at 1 p.m. and Ustundag expects another hard-fought match between the two old foes.
"I always feel like it's a match where we rise up and play really well," Ustundag said. "It will be an interesting match. Hopefully these two matches today give us some confidence."
