Rice University
Middle Tennessee State
Warren Aces Semifinal Test
4/22/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
by Chuck Pool (cpool@rice.edu) -
Murfressboro, TN--David Warren blasted a pair service aces to thwart a Middle Tennessee rally and send the Rice men's tennis team back to a third consecutive Conference USA title match with a 4-2 win over the host Blue Raiders at the Adams Tennis Complex on Saturday.
Warren fired consecutive aces past MTSU's Miguel Negre to win 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) and give the Owls a chance to earn their first consecutive conference championships since they captured five consecutive Southwest Conference titles from 1968-72.
It also marks the 40th ranked Owls ninth appearance in the C-USA title match in their 12 years in the conference, matching Tulsa for the most appearances in conference history.
Rice opened the scoring by taking the doubles point with wins on the first two courts and then extended the lead to 3-0 with wins by Jake Hansen and Eric Rutledge only to see MTSU storm back with wins on courts 1 and 6. After taking his first set, Warren had to rally from a 5-4 deficit to force the tiebreaker. He surged to a 5-1 lead at the changeover, but Negre cut the margin to 5-4 before Warren slammed the door shut with two powerful serves. "We've had great production over the first two matches," Rice head coach Efe Ustundag said. "If you look at it, against UTSA (on Friday), we had wins from 1, 2 and 6 in the lineup and today, the points came from 3, 4 and 5. But the constant each day has been the doubles," he added.
The Owls showed not real affect from having played a late match on Friday, storming out to early advantages in doubles and then answering a challenge from the Blue Raiders.
"Tommy (Bennett) and David did a great job of raising their intensity after an early break and then came back to win four of the next five games to win their match," Ustundag said "When they did, Jake and Eric wanted to make a statement and end the point right there, which they did winning 40-0."
The Owls improved to 22-7 on the season. The 22 wins are the third-most in school history and the 45 combined wins mark the best two-year stretch in men's tennis since 1980.
Rice and Old Dominion will meet for the second consecutive year to decide the C-USA title. First serves are set for 11 a.m.
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:
4,5,1,6,3
