Rice University
UL-Lafayette
Owls Send Seniors Out with Shutout
4/14/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
by Chuck Pool (cpool@rice.edu) -
The Rice men's tennis team saw their departing seniors put a fitting wrap on their respective careers, displaying their signature grit and reliance on each other in a 4-0 win over Louisiana at the George R. Brown Tennis Center on Senior Day.
Co-captains Tommy Bennett and David Warren and fellow senior Henrik Munch led the 38th ranked Owls to their second consecutive season with at least 20 wins, matching the 2003 and 2004 Owls as the only men's tennis teams to do so.
Warren and Munch spoiled an effort by the Ragin Cajuns to take an early lead by taking the doubles point with their second consecutive tiebreaker win as a doubles team, and then saw their teammates fight of a strong early effort in singles by Louisiana to take five of six first sets.
Rice head coach Efe Ustundag said he was proud of the way the team set aside the emotions of their final home match to blast through several early challenges and improve their season mark to 20-6.
"It's always an emotional day and you never know how you are going to handle having friends and family here but we couldn't have written it any better with Henrik and David clinching the doubles point in a tiebreaker. Henrik has played really strong tiebreakers the last two matches. I've always said he was the guy who would take advantage of any shot he was given and this is what we get every time."
The opening stages of singles on all six courts saw matches in which neither player could gain any early advantage. After Warren and Emmanuel Llamas closed out their first sets, the remaining four courts were one game away from being forced to tiebreakers.
"We knew Louisiana was talented and they were going to push us," Ustundag said. "They gave us all we could handle into the first set. We were down a break and they were serving for the set on three courts which would certainly have made the match much more challenging if we had dropped a number of those first sets. But the guys dug deep, came back and then just rolled.
The Owls eventually prevailed on five of six courts in the first sets, then rolled to the clinch as Warren, Llamas and Eric Rutledge lost a combined two games in their second sets.
The Owls have one match remaining in the regular season, a Sunday finale at No. 37 SMU and then their sights will be focused on winning a second consecutive conference crown, an achievement that would add further luster to their departing seniors' legacy.
"It was a good finish to a great day," Usutndag said. "Congratulations to David, Henrik and Tommy for a fantastic career. We're certainly not done and hopefully we'll play quite a few weeks into May."
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
3,1,2
#1 Singles Match
#2 Singles Match
#3 Singles Match
#4 Singles Match
#5 Singles Match
#6 Singles Match
Order of Finish:
5,3,4
Players Mentioned
