Rice University Athletics
Owls Salute Bennett, Munch and Warren on Senior Day
4/13/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
by Chuck Pool (cpool@rice.edu) -
The Rice men's tennis team closes out their 2017 home schedule on Friday as the Owls salute three seniors, Tommy Bennett, Henrik Munch and David Warren, who have been integral parts of the Owls return to the national spotlight.
The 38th ranked Owls (19-6) will wrap up their home schedule when they host the Ragin Cajuns of Louisiana (13-11) at 2 p.m. on at the George R. Brown Tennis Center, the site where the three seniors capped a steady rise during their careers by capturing the 2016 Conference USA title.
The three will join their teammates next week in Murfreesboro, Tennessee to attempt to be the first Rice men's tennis team to win back to back conference titles since Rice won five straight SWC titles from 1968-72.
But Friday will be reserved for celebrating their careers while also attempting to match the 2003 and 2004 Owls in reaching 20 wins in consecutive seasons.
"It's always a special and emotional day for the seniors," Rice head coach Efe Ustundag said. "Each of them will be missed as we move forward in the future. Each of them played a great role and added to this program. They have seen it rise after seeing some of the low points and they have all seen a lot of success.
"More importantly, they have helped to remain at the level they reached last year when we were 30th in the country and won a conference championship. "This year, they have put us in a position to defend that title, which is always much more difficult to do. These three guys have a lot to do with the fact that we are in this position now," Ustundag stated.
A win on Friday would give the Owls 20 dual wins in consecutive seasons for the second time in school history since dual play began in 1980. Rice won 20 matches in 2003 and added 24 in 2004. Last years' C-USA champions finished the year 23-8.
The Owls are 11-1 at the George R. Brown Tennis Center this year and have won 30 matches at home over the last two years.
Louisiana comes into today's match with a 13-11 record and today's match will close out the Ragin Cajuns regular season slate. Rice will close out the 2017 schedule on Sunday when they travel to Dallas to take on SMU.
Pairings for the Conference USA Championship will be released early next week.
