Rice University
Penn
Friday's Lessons Trigger Sunday's Success
2/12/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
by Chuck Pool (cpool@rice.edu) -
PHILADELPHIA, PA—Less than 48 hours after they found themselves unable to overcome a sluggish start in a loss at Princeton, the Rice men's tennis team used those lessons learned to their immediate benefit in a 6-1 win over Penn at the Hecht Tennis Center on Sunday morning.
"We did exactly what we talked about after the match on Friday," Rice head coach Efe Ustundag said. "We came out with energy and intensity and competed for all seven points on the courts. We came back to the kind of performance we've had for most of the year in doubles and then maintained that edge in singles by winning four of six first sets. I knew the Penn was too good a team to not make a run at us, and when they did, we were up to the challenge," he added.
After opening the year by winning the doubles point in the first seven matches of the year, the Owls lost the last two, eventually dropping both matches by 4-3 margins. They snapped that trend with precision, winning by scores of 6-1 on court three and 6-2 on court one to take the early lead.
"I think we proved to ourselves that when we bring that energy and intensity from the first moment of the match, we have a chance to be a very good doubles team," Ustundag stated.
While Emanuel Llamas quickly extended the lead to 2-0 with a straight set win on six, Ustundag said Tommy Bennett's gritty first set tiebreaker win over Penn's Josh Pompan on court two was the best evidence that Sunday's outcome would be different.
On Friday, Bennett could not convert several set points and then dropped the tiebreaker despite holding a 5-1 lead. On Sunday, he fought off missed chances in to close out the first set to win a 13-11 decision and then cruise to a 6-3 win in the second to post Rice's fifth point of the day.
"Tommy was facing a player who was ranked coming into the dual season and he kept fighting though the challenges and he didn't let the result on Friday beat him again," Ustundag noted.
In addition to Bennett and Llamas, the Owls picked up singles wins from Jake Hansen, David Warren and Eric Rutledge, who shook off a tight 7-5 loss in the first set, to breeze to 6-1, 6-1 wins in the final two sets.
"This was a good win against a very good team who has a couple ranked players at the top of the lineup," Ustundag said. "It was good to see us respond so well from a tough result on Friday and make the adjustments we needed to in order to be successful."
The Owls will venture back on the road next Sunday, traveling to Baton Rouge to take on LSU at 2 p.m.
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
3,1
#1 Singles Match
#2 Singles Match
#3 Singles Match
#4 Singles Match
#5 Singles Match
#6 Singles Match
Order of Finish:
6,3,5,2,1,4
Players Mentioned
