Rice University
South Carolina
Owls Claim Blue Gray Crown
2/25/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
by Chuck Pool (cpool@rice.edu) -
Jake Hansen and Eric Rutledge rebounded from potentially devastating late service breaks to grind out three-set wins and provide the final points as the Rice men's tennis team captured championship of the 69th Blue Gray National Tennis Classic with a 4-2 upset of 16th ranked South Carolina in Montgomery, Alabama on Saturday.
Meeting for the first time since Rice defeated the Gamecocks 4-2 in the opening round of the 2003 NCAA regional, the two squads put in a display of surges and struggles worthy of a championship stage.
"What a great match and great way to end this tournament," Rice head coach Efe Ustundag said. "The way we started out, I thought we might run away with it, but South Carolina came back strong and for a while they looked better than us. We had guys starting to cramp up, but we dug deep and found an additional gear at the end."
Rice opened match by winning the doubles point for third time in as many matches and then split the six first sets in singles. After a Gamecock win on court six, senior Tommy Bennett put the Owls back up 2-1 with a straight set win at the second position.
"It was huge to have Tommy be able to serve out his match and get off the court," Ustundag said. With the match deadlocked at 2-2 and all three remaining matches in third sets, the Owls found themselves at critical junctures on each court.
On court one, Jamie Malik was fighting cramps as well as the Gamecocks Gabriel Friedrichs, currently ranked 43rd in the nation. Malik fought off two match points to force a tiebreaker in the third set and Ustundag said his ability to keep a third point off the board for South Carolina was crucial to the success the Owls would find on the remaining two courts.
"Jamie kept us in the match," Ustundag said. "I'm proud of him for toughing it out. But he was also on a roll at the end and was leading the tiebreaker 4-2 when we clinched."
On court three, Hansen was broken in the ninth game, leaving his match on the racket of USC's Thomas Mayronne. But the sophomore responded with what Ustundag said were three dominating games in succession, including two breaks of Mayronne, to put Rice ahead to stay.
Rutledge also suffered a late service break on court five to tie his match at 4-4, but he responded in a similar manner and then held serve to give the Owls the victory. He was also named the tournament's MVP for his efforts.
Rice improved to 9-4 on the season, while South Carolina suffered just its second loss in 12 duals.
The Owls will return home the friendly confines of the George R. Brown Tennis Center for the first time since the end of January when they host a pair of duals on Friday. They will face Abilene Christian at 11 a.m. on Friday as part of the annual Double Trouble simultaneous dual with the Rice women's team who will host Texas State, and then host Incarnate Word at 4 p.m.
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
1,2
#1 Singles Match
#2 Singles Match
#3 Singles Match
#4 Singles Match
#5 Singles Match
#6 Singles Match
Order of Finish:
6,2,4,3,5
Players Mentioned
