Owls Set for NCAA Action
5/3/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Men's NCAA Tournament Bracket 
| Women's NCAA Tournament Bracket
HOUSTON – For just the second time in school history, the Rice men's and women's tennis teams were each selected to the NCAA Tournament announced Tuesday afternoon.
The 26th ranked men's team (23-7) will stay in the state of Texas, traveling to fourth overall seed TCU in the Fort Worth regional where they will take on LSU (14-11) on Friday, May 13 at 12 p.m. The winner advances to play the winner of TCU (24-3) and Jackson State (6-18).
The women, 13-9 and ranked 41st, will travel to Nashville, Tenn., as the third-seed and meet Clemson (10-10) in the opening round on Friday, May 13 at 1 p.m. The winner advances to play the winner of Vanderbilt (19-5) and SIU-Edwardsville (19-4).
"It's incredible," said men's tennis head coach Efe Ustundag. "I was more interested in seeing the excitement in the guy's faces. They worked very hard for this. Sitting in this room, trying to find out where they were going to be (and) who they were going to play. It's a really anxious but a fun feeling. They all reacted like I was hoping they would."
"It's always exciting to be able to represent Rice in the NCAA Tournament," said women's tennis head coach Elizabeth Schmidt. "I'm just really proud of our girls for everything they have done so far and I'm really looking forward to the Tournament. It's nice that this is becoming a yearly thing and we hope to continue that. There was a lot of anticipation this year because we really had no idea where we were going at all, so it was definitely a different feel this year."
The men are 5-10 all-time against LSU, including a 4-3 victory earlier this year at the George R. Brown Tennis Center. It is also the third time that they will meet in the NCAA Tournament. Rice took the first meeting in the 2004 first round while LSU won in the second round in 2009.
The women will meet Clemson for just the third time since 1980 with the Tigers winning the previous two meetings.
Both teams earned automatic bids into the NCAA field after capturing Conference USA titles on April 24, the first time in school history the Owls have swept the tennis titles. This is the second time in school history that both squads have qualified in the same year. In 2006, the Rice women earned an automatic bid after winning the C-USA title while the men earned an at-large berth.
This is the fifth consecutive NCAA appearance for the women and they have advanced at least to the second round in each of the previous four years, including a trip to the Sweet 16 in 2012. They have made a total of nine trips to the NCAA team championship in their history.
The Rice men are returning to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2011 and for the 11th time since the NCAA adopted the current team format in 1977. They have advanced past the first round five times, most recently in 2010 and have one Sweet 16 appearance (2004).
Tickets for the men's tennis first and second round matches at TCU can be purchased in advance by calling the TCU ticket office at 817-257-3764. Tickets also will be available for purchase on match days at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center beginning one hour before match time. Prices are as follows: $5 Adults, $3 Youth and free for children under age two.
Tickets for the women's tennis first and second round matches at Vanderbilt can be purchased in advance by calling the Vanderbilt ticket office at 615-322-4653. Prices are as follows: $5 General Admission, $3 Students and free for children under age two.
RICE WOMEN'STENNIS NCAA TEAM TOURNAMENT APPEARANCES
Season Location Opponent (Round) Result
1996 College Station, TX LSU (64) L, 5-3
1997 Jake Hess Stadium Texas A&M (64) L, 5-3
1998 Baton Rouge, LA Arkansas (64) L, 5-0
2006 Ft. Worth, TX TCU (64) L, 4-0
2012 Oxford, MS Illinois (64) W, 4-3
Ole Miss (32) W, 4-2
Athens, GA UCLA(16) L, 4-0
2013 Stanford, CA Pepperdine (64) W, 4-3
Stanford (32) L, 4-0
2014 Waco, TX Denver (64) W, 4-0
Baylor (32) L, 4-1
2015 Waco, TX Tulsa (64) W, 4-0
Baylor (32) L, 4-2
RICE MEN'S NCAA TEAM TOURNAMENT APPEARANCES*
Season Location Opponent (Round) Result
2001 Durham, NC Auburn (64) L, 4-1
2003 Austin, TX South Carolina (64) W, 4-2
Texas (32) L, 4-3
2004 Baton Rouge, LA South Alabama (64) W, 4-1
LSU (32) W, 4-0
Tulsa, OK Baylor (16) L, 4-1
2005 Waco, TX Texas (64) L, 4-3
2006 Austin, TX Louisiana-Lafayette (64)W, 4-1
Texas (32) L, 4-0
2007 Waco, TX Texas A&M (64) L, 4-2
2008 Austin, TX TCU (64) W, 4-3
Texas (32) L, 4-0
2009 Baton Rouge, LA LSU (64) L, 4-0
2010 Waco, TX Washington (64) W, 4-3
Baylor (32) L, 4-0
2011 Waco, TX Texas Tech (64) L, 4-3
* The NCAA moved to the current team championship system in 1977.
