Sunday, January 20
Houston, Texas
10:00 AM
Rice University
7
vs
0
Incarnate Word
Owls Open Season with Sweep
1/20/2019 7:45:00 PM | Men's Tennis
The Lead: The Rice men's tennis team survived some early first-match nerves in the opening round of doubles to post a pair of 7-0 wins over Incarnate Word and Prairie View A&M at the George R. Brown Tennis Center on Sunday.
Incarnate Word: Tied 5-5 in their own match and knowing the pursuit of the doubles points was on their racquets after the Rice and UIW split matches on courts 1 & 2, Rice's Mohamed Abdel-Aziz and Jacob Eskeland got a late service break to win 7-5 and give Rice a 1-0 lead after doubles. The Owls did not allow the Cardinals to mount a similar threat in singles, as Eric Rutledge, Adam Oscislawski and Eskeland raced to straight set wins to provide the clinch points. Abdel-Azziz, Campbell Salmon and Sumit Sarkar followed with three-set wins to give the Owls the sweep. Oscislawski and Salmon's wins came in their collegiate dual debuts.
Prairie View: Facing a Panther squad that was down to five players, the Owls were quickly captured the doubles point and swept to straight set wins in all five singles matches. Freshman AJ Valenty picked up his first career win in his collegiate dual debut.
Efe Ustundag: "The first day is always interesting and you're not always quite sure what you are going to get when guys are playing their first dual matches. It was pleasing to see that everybody who got their chance for the first time to compete in a dual match come out with a win. Adam, Campbell and then AJ in the second match. It was good to see them battle through some nerves at the start and I was happy to see them come through the way they did. It was a good day overall. We saw a lot of things overall that were good signs and we saw some stuff that we will need to address this week. But it was a good effort. The team did a great job of supporting each other over a very long day. We've been out here for a little over 12 hours. A long day, but well worth it and I can't wait to get back out here this week."
Up Next: The Owls return to GRBTC on Friday for the first of three matches in four days when they host UTA at 3 p.m., followed by duals with UTRGV at 11 a.m. on Saturday and Western Michigan at noon on Monday.
Incarnate Word: Tied 5-5 in their own match and knowing the pursuit of the doubles points was on their racquets after the Rice and UIW split matches on courts 1 & 2, Rice's Mohamed Abdel-Aziz and Jacob Eskeland got a late service break to win 7-5 and give Rice a 1-0 lead after doubles. The Owls did not allow the Cardinals to mount a similar threat in singles, as Eric Rutledge, Adam Oscislawski and Eskeland raced to straight set wins to provide the clinch points. Abdel-Azziz, Campbell Salmon and Sumit Sarkar followed with three-set wins to give the Owls the sweep. Oscislawski and Salmon's wins came in their collegiate dual debuts.
Prairie View: Facing a Panther squad that was down to five players, the Owls were quickly captured the doubles point and swept to straight set wins in all five singles matches. Freshman AJ Valenty picked up his first career win in his collegiate dual debut.
Efe Ustundag: "The first day is always interesting and you're not always quite sure what you are going to get when guys are playing their first dual matches. It was pleasing to see that everybody who got their chance for the first time to compete in a dual match come out with a win. Adam, Campbell and then AJ in the second match. It was good to see them battle through some nerves at the start and I was happy to see them come through the way they did. It was a good day overall. We saw a lot of things overall that were good signs and we saw some stuff that we will need to address this week. But it was a good effort. The team did a great job of supporting each other over a very long day. We've been out here for a little over 12 hours. A long day, but well worth it and I can't wait to get back out here this week."
Up Next: The Owls return to GRBTC on Friday for the first of three matches in four days when they host UTA at 3 p.m., followed by duals with UTRGV at 11 a.m. on Saturday and Western Michigan at noon on Monday.
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
2,1,3
#1 Singles Match
123
Evans, Gabriel / 0 [UIW]
649
3611
#2 Singles Match
12
Boisseau, Dennis / 0 [UIW]
02
66
#3 Singles Match
12
Bendana, Paco / 0 [UIW]
21
66
#4 Singles Match
123
Mortier, Sebastian / 0 [UIW]
163
616
#5 Singles Match
12
Valentinsson, Oliver / 0 [UIW]
31
66
#6 Singles Match
12
Dyer, Caleb / 0 [UIW]
44
66
Order of Finish:
2,5,3,1,4,6
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
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