Rice University
Old Dominion University
Energized Owls Race to First Title Since 2010
4/24/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
By Chuck Pool (cpool@rice.edu)
Spurred on by a raucous crowd of 537, the 26th ranked Rice men's tennis team rode a blistering start in doubles and the steady play of their lineup to down Old Dominion 4-2 and capture the school's first Conference USA tennis title since 2010 at the George R. Brown Tennis Center on Sunday.
The Owls (23-7), who won for the 22nd time in 23 matches on their home court and delivered a second consecutive championship to the two-year old facility-matching the Rice women's title in 2015, had to absorb a strong counter punch by the 45th ranked Monarchs who shook off the doubles loss to take a 2-1 lead before the Owls laid claim to the trophy with wins on courts four, five and six.
"What a great feeling in front of our crowd," Rice head coach Efe Ustundag said. "The performance in doubles really set the tone. You wonder how the team will manage the nerves and how they will handle (playing) the last match at home where we've been thankfully so successful. We took that doubles point in short order and really didn't give them a chance to get back into it."
The Owls and Monarchs split the first sets in singles, keeping Rice on pace to reach the clinching fourth point, but Ustundag knew that ODU, which came into Sunday's final having won 19 of its last 20, would not go quietly.
"Old Dominion is a heckuva team who has had so much success and we knew they were going to make some sort of a run."
The Monarchs surged to wins on courts one and three to take a 2-1 lead, but the Owls pair of freshmen, Manny Llamas and Jake Hansen responded with wins on courts six and four to edge Rice to within a point of the clinch, leaving that opportunity open to a pair of juniors.
On court two, Tommy Bennett had raced to quick win in his first set against ODU's Aziz Kijametovic, 6-2, but Kijametovic proved unwilling to surrender the second set as easily. On court five, David Warren dropped his first set 6-1 to Zvonimir Podvinski, but answered with a 6-1 win of his own in the second.
Ustundag knew both players were aware of the moment at hand as well as the score in the other's court.
"We knew it was in sight and I think Old Dominion knew it was in sight. At that point, it's just a matter of keeping focus on your court. Tommy was watching David with one eye and David was watching Tommy. It's tough to keep that focus but these guys have been clutch all year long. David has been phenomenal all year and Tommy has been just as tough."
While Bennett was one point from a second set tiebreaker, Warren continued his strong play and delivered the clinching moment with a 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 over Zvonimir Podvinski.
"It's an absolutely unbelievable feeling," Warren said. "I had complete faith that Tommy would come through as well. I told Efe earlier in the year that if we came through and won conference there would be no feeling even close to it. To have that come true is unbelievable and something this team has been dreaming about for three years."
Ustundag and Warren both gave the turnout ample credit for the win.
"They earned this win as much as we did. We could not have done it without them," Warren said. "It was especially gratifying to lift that trophy in front of them," Ustundag added.
Four years after he took the helm of his alma mater's men's tennis program, Ustundag basked in the accomplishment of his team.
"It's been a tough time (to get here). We had three straight losing records prior to this one, but the pieces all came together. We had injured players come back and freshmen step up and make an immediate impact. We had upper classmen that just keep getting better and better
"This really is the best time to be a Rice Owl. We have one senior and with this kind of fan support and administrative support and the facility we have, we can only aim higher," he stated.
