Rice University
UMBC
Owls Fend off UMBC, 6-1
1/24/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
by Chuck Pool (cpool@Rice.edu) - The Rice men's tennis team used a blistering early start to build a huge lead, but needed three crucial second-set tiebreak wins to put the finishing touches on a 6-1 dual win over Maryland-Baltimore County on Sunday at the George R. Brown Tennis Center.
Rice came out of the gates firing on all cylinders, taking the doubles point in short order and then increasing the lead to 3-0 thanks to straight set wins by Henrik Munch and Jake Hansen.
"Great doubles point," Rice head coach Efe Ustundag said. "We jumped on them early and it was one of the better doubles points we've played. We had another solid match from the freshmen (Jake Hansen and Emanuel Llamas) at 2 and Tommy (Bennett) and Jamie, who were not very sharp last week, played really well."
However the clinching fourth point proved more elusive as the Retrievers fought back on the remaining courts.
While Rice swept to first set wins on five courts, junior Tommy Bennett found himself two points away from dropping a first set tiebreaker before ripping off six straight points to add a sixth first-set win for the Owls.
"We knew they would compete hard, but we weren't sure what kind of team we were going to see in singles," Rice head coach Efe Untundag said. "They battled well and at some point it looked like we could have dropped some sets. Tommy(Bennett) coming back from being 5-1 down in the tiebreak probably took the wind out of their sails in terms of a comeback," he added.
Llamas found himself in danger of going to a third set before winning his tiebreak 7-2 to provide the clinching fourth point. David Warren gave theOwls a perfect 3-0 record in tiebreakers on Sunday, winning 7-3 to move the margin to 5-1.
Bennett then closed out the match, with a 6-2 win in the second set.
Ustundag was pleased with the way his team weathered the challenges, even if some of them were self imposed.
"At times it appears that when we are cruising we start to lose a little focus but when it got a little bit tough today, the guys really pulled it together," Ustundag said. "You don't want to always be challenged to find out how well you can play. You want to stay on a team when you are up a break and run with it. But I'm glad we were able to not get tight and tense and turn those tight times into good wins in tiebreakers."
The Owls, who will join the Rice women's team in hosting LSU in a combined dual next Sunday, have rescheduled their match with Texas-Arlington, which had been postponed last Sunday, for Thursday at 3 p.m.
Players Mentioned
