Rice University
William & Mary
Rice and Tech to Decide Invitational Title on Sunday
3/26/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Drake Box Score / William & Mary Box Score
By Chuck Pool (cpool@rice.edu)
The 40th ranked Rice men's tennis team will need to break one streak if they hope to extend a second when they face ninth-ranked Texas Tech in the championship match of the 58th Rice Invitational at noon on Sunday at the George R. Brown Tennis Center.
Rice will be looking to extend its streak of eight consecutive invitational titles, but to make it a ninth, they will have to break a 12-match losing streak to teams ranked in the top ten. The Owls' last win over a team in the ITA top 10 came in 2006 when they downed No. 3 Texas at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium.
The Owls and Red Raiders set up Sunday's title match by posting a pair of wins in Saturday's first round. Rice blanked No. 44 Drake, 4-0 and came back to down 74th ranked William & Mary, 4-1 on Saturday night. Tech picked up 4-1 wins over both teams.
Rice head coach Efe Ustundag was happy to see his team get a quick start against the Bulldogs in the opening match and then held his breath in the nightcap as the Owls scuffled to find their pace against The Tribe.
"We knew there were no easy matches this year in the field and we stressed to the team the importance of coming out with great energy, because when we have done that this year, we have played our best matches," Rice head coach Efe Ustundag said. "We came out strong in the morning, but we were much flatter in the second match, and it almost cost us the doubles point."
The Owls two freshmen (Jake Hansen and Emanuel Llamas), who figured prominently in both matches, battled back from being down 4-1 and then fought off two match points before capturing the doubles point vs. William & Mary.
"That was a big win, because as it played out, it was hard to see where four points would come from in singles," Ustundag said.
Later in singles, Llamas battled back to win a first set tiebreak, then fought back to win the last three games and provide the clinching point to close out the day's competition.
Llamas joined senior Adam Gustafsson in winning both singles matches on Saturday.
"Adam was rock solid today," Ustundag said. "That's what you expect from your seniors and he delivered in both matches."
First serves in the championship match of the 58th Rice Invitational are set for noon.
