Saturday, March 2
Forth Worth, TX
1:30 pm
Rice University
0
at
7
#12 TCU
No. 12 TCU Blanks Owls
3/2/2019 5:41:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Horned Frogs fight off early owls charge
The Lead: The Rice men's tennis team saw their hopes for fast start at 12th ranked TCU dashed on a crucial deuce point in doubles and then saw the Horned Frogs carry that momentum over to singles in a 7-0 win at the Bayard Friedman Tennis Center on Saturday.
Doubles: After TCU took the early advantage with a win at the second line, the Owls held a lead at three while the matchup at the first line between two ranked duos was even. Rice's 49th ranked Eric Rutledge and Sumit Sarkar and TCU's 26th ranked Reese Stadler and Bertus Kruger were tied 5-5 before the Horned Frogs won a deuce point to move in front and then closed out the point in the next game.
Singles: Facing the sixth ranked singles player in the country, Sumit Sarkar lost a chance to extend his match to three sets with a loss in a tiebreaker on court one. Jacob Eskeland dropped a 6-4, 6-4 decision on court two while Eric Rutledge extended his match to three sets on court three. Freshman Karol Paluch, who has been recovering from an injury in the fall, made his singles dual debut for the Owls at the sixth line.
Efe Ustundag: "We gave a good battle at the top three spots. Sumit was up a break in the second and was at deuce point serving with a chance to go up 5-2. Jacob lost 6-4, 6-4 on a couple of tough breaks on deuce points. But that's what happens when you are playing good players. There aren't a whole lot of opportunities and the good players convert the few that they have. The difference today was we played a good team made up by a group of aggressive players who also served really well across the board. There were some positives today, but TCU was the better team. We thought that Karol was healthy enough to get out there and play and find out where he was and I thought he held up well. Now we finally have everyone on the roster available and the challenge will be to have the six we put on the court play at a high level. That will be the difference maker for this year. We've got to be able to push teams from the bottom of the lineup. That was our bread and butter with our most successful teams and that is what we need to have happen the second half of this season.
Up Next: The Owls will have a quick turnaround as they return to action on Tuesday when they host Louisiana at 2 p.m.
Doubles: After TCU took the early advantage with a win at the second line, the Owls held a lead at three while the matchup at the first line between two ranked duos was even. Rice's 49th ranked Eric Rutledge and Sumit Sarkar and TCU's 26th ranked Reese Stadler and Bertus Kruger were tied 5-5 before the Horned Frogs won a deuce point to move in front and then closed out the point in the next game.
Singles: Facing the sixth ranked singles player in the country, Sumit Sarkar lost a chance to extend his match to three sets with a loss in a tiebreaker on court one. Jacob Eskeland dropped a 6-4, 6-4 decision on court two while Eric Rutledge extended his match to three sets on court three. Freshman Karol Paluch, who has been recovering from an injury in the fall, made his singles dual debut for the Owls at the sixth line.
Efe Ustundag: "We gave a good battle at the top three spots. Sumit was up a break in the second and was at deuce point serving with a chance to go up 5-2. Jacob lost 6-4, 6-4 on a couple of tough breaks on deuce points. But that's what happens when you are playing good players. There aren't a whole lot of opportunities and the good players convert the few that they have. The difference today was we played a good team made up by a group of aggressive players who also served really well across the board. There were some positives today, but TCU was the better team. We thought that Karol was healthy enough to get out there and play and find out where he was and I thought he held up well. Now we finally have everyone on the roster available and the challenge will be to have the six we put on the court play at a high level. That will be the difference maker for this year. We've got to be able to push teams from the bottom of the lineup. That was our bread and butter with our most successful teams and that is what we need to have happen the second half of this season.
Up Next: The Owls will have a quick turnaround as they return to action on Tuesday when they host Louisiana at 2 p.m.
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
2,1
#1 Singles Match
12
36
Alex Rybakov / 0 (6/-) [TCU]
67
#2 Singles Match
12
44
Alastair Gray / 0 (62/-) [TCU]
66
#3 Singles Match
123
642
Reese Stalder / 0 [TCU]
066
#4 Singles Match
12
02
Bertus Kruger / 0 (83/-) [TCU]
66
#5 Singles Match
12
31
Luc Fomba / 0 [TCU]
66
#6 Singles Match
12
34
Sander Jong / 0 [TCU]
66
Order of Finish:
5,4,1,2,3,6
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
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