C-USA Honors Pair of Owls
5/1/2018 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
by Chuck Pool (cpool@rice.edu) -
Eric Rutledge Sumit Sarkar were honored by Conference USA Men's Tennis coaches for the efforts as part of the conference's annual postseason awards, which were announced on Tuesday.
Rutledge earned first team All-Conference USA honors in singles and in doubles with Sarkar, who also earned second team honors in singles.
A redshirt sophomore from Fort Worth, Rutledge moved into the top spot in the Owls' singles lineup and responded by winning 11 matches (11-5), the most for an Owl at the first line since Bruno Rosa won 14 contests in 2010. He tied for the team lead with three clinch points and posted a 3-1 record against C-USA competition. Overall, he posted a 12-6 mark in dual singles to lead the Owls. He was honored by the conference as the Men's Tennis Athlete of the Week in early February after leading Rice to a win over LSU.
In his first semester of collegiate tennis, Sarkar closed strongly. He won six of his last seven decisions in singles to finish the season at 10-11. Included in that run was the Owls only win over a ranked singles opponent this spring, a 6-7, 6-3, 10-5 victory over Tulane's Ewan Moore, who was ranked 87th at the time.
Rutledge and Sarkar combined for a 7-5 record while playing at the top spot in the doubles lineup.
Players Mentioned
