Rice University
Texas A&M
Aggies Escape Owls Attack
1/21/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
by Chuck Pool (cpool@rice.edu) -
On an unseasonably warm January day, Rice and Texas A&M responded with a day of tennis more suited for the postseason in May than the season's second week as the 16th ranked Aggies held off a spirited effort by the homestanding Owls, 4-3 in front of an energetic gathering of 386 fans at the George R. Brown Tennis Center on Saturday.
The Owls, who had not scored a point in the last three matches against the Aggies, nor extended the match until the final point since 2009, held the outcome in doubt until the Aggies' Arthur Rinderknech riffled a return past Tommy Bennett to close out a three-set win in the final match of the day.
"Hats off to A&M, " Rice head coach Efe Ustundag said. "We were in every point. I saw a lot of deuce games throughout the match but they made a few more plays where we didn't."
The tone of the match was set during a spirited battle for the doubles point that featured a battle on between two teams ranked in the top ten in the country. After the Aggies took an early advantage with a win on court two, Rice's Tommy Bennett and David Warren, who came into action ranked ninth, spotted A&M's seventh-ranked duo of Arthur Rinderknech and Max Lukin and early lead and then stormed back to take a 6-4 decision.
That left the point to be decided on court three where Rice's Jake Hansen and Eric Rutledge fought back from multiple deficits, the last coming at 5-3 in the deciding tiebreaker, to defeat Jordi Arconada and Jame Martell and give the Owls a 1-0 lead.
Rice and A&M split early decisions in singles, but the Owls fell behind 3-2 after wins by A&M on courts four and six. Warren outlasted Arconada, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to pull the Rice even at 3-3, leaving the outcome in the hands of the players at the top of each team's lineup.
Facing the 16th ranked player in Rinderknech, Bennett captured the first set then saw the Aggies' 2016 All-American respond with a win in the second set and then hand A&M the eighth straight win in the series.
While disappointed by the outcome, Ustundag was careful to put the early season effort into perspective.
"This one burns a little in that you feel like you maybe let one get away," he said. "They key now is to get up emotionally and physically tomorrow to play a doubleheader. That's tough after a good match even if we had won. We have to make sure that we concentrate and recover from this one."
The Owls will have a short opportunity to shake off any lingering effects from the battle with the Aggies, as they are slated to host Sun Belt champion UT-Arlington at noon on Sunday, followed by Prairie View A&M at 5 p.m.
Despite the outcome, Ustundag had praise for the effort of the fans who filled GRBTC on Saturday for the match.
"What a crowd," he said. "It's been such a great partnership now ever since we opened this facility. Because of their support, we win and because we win, they keep coming back and supporting us. Nobody left. We fed them and gave them t-shirts but more importantly all we have to do is battle hard for them to stay here for three hours.
"So thank you to all the Rice fans and Rice students, you were unbelievable," Ustundag said.
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
2,1
#1 Singles Match
#2 Singles Match
#3 Singles Match
#4 Singles Match
#5 Singles Match
#6 Singles Match
Order of Finish:
2,3,4,6,5,1
Players Mentioned
