Owls' Fight Pleases Ustundag

Saturday, March 10

George R. Brown Tennis Center

1:00 PM

Rice University

Texas

3/10/2018 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

March 10, 2018

Box Score

by Chuck Pool (cpool@rice.edu) -

Tenth-ranked Texas came out firing early and gave Rice little chance to mount a comeback as the Longhorns took a 7-0 win at the George R. Brown Tennis Center on Saturday afternoon.

The Longhorns (11-2) extended their season winning streak to seven matches and their series streak with Rice to 11 matches by racing to a quick win in doubles and then taking all six singles matches in straight sets.

Rice head coach Efe Ustundag said that despite the final score, he found much to be pleased with in his team's performance.

"There were a lot of things we saw out there today that make us believe in this team even more," Ustundag said. "There are no holes in the Texas lineup and their players don't give you a lot of opportunities to exploit. They played well in the big points and served better than we did, especially in the key moments when they need a hold or had a chance to put a match away. But when the ball was in play, it was a very competitive match. I think our guys came off the court feeling like the gap between our teams is not as wide as it might appear. No one came off the court feeling like they got their butt kicked. It's important to build on that feeling."

Eric Rutledge and Ashton Duke each fought back to force first set tiebreakers before falling by identical 9-7 scores, which Ustundag noted was emblematic of the overall effort on Saturday in singles.

"Our guys were there for the majority of their matches and we showed great fight to come back to dig out of some early holes in singles."

He was especially pleased to see the response in singles after the Longhorns ran over the Owls to capture the doubles point.

"If there was one part of the day that I was not happy with it was in doubles," Ustundag stated. "Texas came out and punched us right away and it intimidated our guys. We didn't punch back. We did when we got to singles. Everybody at one point or another punched back when challenged in singles."

The Owls fell to 5-9 on the season and face a rugged set of matches ahead during their Spring Break trip to San Diego where they likely will face three Top 30 opponents. Ustundag said the level of competition is key for his young squad to continue to develop towards the Conference USA Championship, which the Owls will host at the end of April.

"There is no breathing room left in our schedule, but I prefer it that way," Ustundag stated. "We are going to continue to grow with these challenges and these guys will really embrace the reality that we can play at this level. We have to take care of the details, and stay healthy and we continue to train hard. When you have a young team, every training session is a chance to improve."