Underdog Owls Ready to Host C-USA's Best
4/19/2018 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
by Chuck Pool (cpool@rice.edu) -
C-USA Championship Live Stats and Video / Championship Bracket / Lineups
After two years of entering the Conference USA Men's Tennis Championship as the top seed and then validating that ranking by capturing consecutive conference titles, the Rice Owls will open play in the 2018 event at the George R. Brown Tennis Center a decided underdog as the seventh seed.
Rice head coach Efe Ustundag saw his roster turn over after the 2017 title run, resulting in a 2018 lineup that featured five freshmen for most of the year. He made it clear from the first day of practice that this year was about growth and improvement and not being saddled with the branding of being defending champions.
"From the start of the year, I told this team that I didn't consider them to be defending champions, because there are so many new players," Ustundag said. "I didn't want them to focus on this weekend all year and feel the weight of expectations to continue that streak. They are a new team and the goal was to grow and gain comfort with the college game. We did play in several tournaments that saw you move through a bracket and play three straight days, so they were able to get a feel for what this weekend could be like," he noted.
Rice faces 39th ranked Middle Tennessee at 2 p.m. on Friday after 33rd ranked Old Dominion opens play in the 10 a.m. session. Both were teams that Rice defeated last year on its way to the Owls second straight title. Ustundag is excited to have two top 40 teams in the field and hopes it bodes well for the conference's chances to place more than just the champion in the NCAA Championship.
"Old Dominion and Middle Tennessee have both had very strong years and have put C-USA in position to be a two-bid league this year and that is exciting for the conference. The focus coming into the weekend should be on them. They have earned it. "
The Owls and Middle Tennessee met earlier this year at the GRBTC, with the Blue Raiders taking a thrilling 4-3 decision that saw the teams split the six single sets after MTSU ground out a tiebreak win at No. 1 doubles to give them the decisive point.
On the surface, the razor-thin margin of the first match might seem to be a predictor of what Friday's meeting might generate, but Ustundag is quick to dispel that notion.
"It was an exciting match, but I don't take much from that one into the match on Friday because the way the lineups work out, the only matchup that is the same will be at No. 4 singles," Ustundag noted. "Middle Tennessee comes into the tournament on quite a roll and playing with a great deal of confidence."
That lone rematch will feature MTSU's Gian Issa and Rice's Conrad Russell. Playing at the fifth position in February, Issa took a 6-2, 6-3 that put the Blue Raiders up 3-0 before the Owls mounted a comeback to the match 3-3 thanks to wins by Eric Rutledge, Sumit Sarkar and Mohamed Abdel-Aziz.
The resolve shown in that and other moments throughout the dual season will be what Ustundag hopes his team will build upon when they take the courts on Friday.
"The message to our team was that they start this weekend with a clean sheet and they determine what happens next. What I want to see on the courts on Friday is a team that plays with great passion and energy and one that can draw from its best moments this year when things get tough.
"From the beginning of the year, we worked towards playing our best tennis this weekend. This tournament is very important for the team and i am very excited to see how this young group will play with an underdog mentality rather than a defending champion mentality," Ustundag stated.
Players Mentioned
