Rice University
Louisiana-Lafayette
Owls Extend Invite Mastery
3/29/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
The Rice men's tennis team completed a standout week of tennis at the George R. Brown Tennis center by clinching the team title of the 57th Rice Invitational by downing Louisiana-Lafayette 4-0 to finish the weekend with a 3-0 mark.
This is the eight consecutive year in which Rice finished play in the Invitational with an unbeaten record. They have won their last 24 matches in the competition dating back to a loss to Oklahoma on the first day of the 2007.
"It was a great week for us and what was really pleasing to me was to see how we handle the challenge of playing five matches in the last week," Rice head coach Efe Ustundag said. "Physically we handled the strain of the matches well and think that is a credit to their fitness and the work our staff did to keep them fresh. But they also showed the kind of mental toughness to grind through some tough situations and find success."
Rice captured the doubles point for the fifth consecutive match to take a 1-0 lead , but only after the team of Zach Yablon and Jamie Malik rallied from an early deficit. The duo found themselves in a 4-2 hole but found a surge of energy to mount a charge to clinch the point.
"Zach and Jamie were down a break and not playing that well, but they turned it around and played really well over those last four games to get us the point," Ustundag said.
Malik and Yablon contributed a pair of individual points to the Owls' final total with straight set wins on courts four and six, with Yablon delivering the clinching win with a 6-2, 6-3.
Senior Srikar Alla extended his unbeaten streak to four matches, once again overcoming a sluggish start to pick up the win.
"Srikar was down 4-1 in the first set, but when he turned it around he really took the energy out of his opponent and never looked back," Ustundag noted.
The win was Alla's third consecutive, two of which have come over ranked opponents, as the senior prepares to play his final home match on Tuesday when the Owls close out the 2015 home schedule with a 5 p.m. dual with No. 9 Texas A&M.
Tennis Match Results
Louisiana vs Rice
3/29/2015 at Houston, Texas
(George R. Brown Tennis Center)
Rice 4, Louisiana 0
Singles competition
1. Srikar Alla (RICE) def. Lopez, Edgar (UL) 6-4, 6-1
2. Max Andrews (RICE) vs. Huyton, Will (UL) unfinished
3. Jamie Malik (RICE) def. Farinola, Damian (UL) 6-2, 6-1
4. Adam Gustafsson (RICE) vs. Wahlberg, Coleman (UL) unfinished
5. David Warren (RICE) vs. Wynan, Jarred (UL) unfinished
6. Zach Yablon (RICE) def. Sitar, Rok (UL) 6-2, 6-3
Doubles competition
1. David Warren/Max Andrews (RICE) vs. Lopez, Edgar/Farinola, Damian (UL) unfinished
2. Zach Yablon/Jamie Malik (RICE) def. Wynan, Jarred/Wahlberg, Coleman (UL) 6-4
3. Adam Gustafsson/Gustavo Gonzalez (RICE) def. Sitar, Rok/Huyton, Will (UL) 6-2
Match Notes:
Rice 11-11
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (3,1,6)
57th Rice Invitational
Players Mentioned
