Tuesday, March 5
Houston, Texas
2:00 PM
Rice University
4
vs
3
Louisiana
Sumit Sarkar fired an ace to clinch the match
Photo by: Maria Lysaker - Rice University
Owls Answer Early Challenge
3/5/2019 5:49:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Shake off doubles loss with four straight singles wins
The Lead: Rice stormed back from a loss in doubles, setting the pace with four consecutive wins in singles to down Louisiana 4-3 at the George R. Brown Tennis Center on Tuesday.
Doubles: The Ragin' Cajuns (16-5) used a 7-5 tiebreaker at the second line to take the first point of the day. They opened with a 6-1 win on the third line, but saw Rice's 40th ranked pair of Eric Rutledge and Sumit Sarkar storm back from an early 2-0 deficit to take a 6-3 at the first line.
Singles: The Owls (8-7) responded to the challenge of a 1-0 deficit immediately, taking four of six first sets in singles and holding the lead on each of those courts despite a strong charge from the Ragin' Cajuns. Mohamed Abdel-Aziz drew the Owls even with a 6-1, 6-1 win at the fifth singles position and Jacob Eskeland followed with a 6-3, 6-1 win at two to put the Owls ahead to stay. At the third position, Eric Rutledge held serve at 5-5 in the second set, winning a long deuce point while simultaneously on court one Sumit Sarkar broke at 3-3 in the second to take command. While both Rutledge and Sarkar were fending off strong challenges to force third sets, Adam Oscislawski rallied from down 4-2 to take a 5-4 lead at the fourth position and Campbell Salmon forced a third set at six to keep Louisiana from cutting into the Owls lead.
Efe Ustundag: "We didn't play that well in doubles, but we still gave ourselves a chance. We couldn't quite close the deal when we had some opportunities. As we've been telling the team, if you have the opportunity, you have to take the lead. We were tied 5-all in the tiebreak (at the second doubles line) and getting that sixth point wouldn't have guaranteed you the match, but it would have forced their freshman to serve at 5-6 for the point. It left a bad taste, but what a response in singles. You take the four first sets. Eric and Sumit had some earlier opportunities to maybe close it out quicker, but it doesn't happen. Eric stayed sharp mentally and gave himself another opportunity to break. Something that doesn't show on the scoreboard was what Adam and Campbell did by not allowing the opposition to put a point on the board. That was invaluable. Those two guys did a phenomenal job of extending their matches. That was when Eric was serving a massive point at 5-5 deuce in the second set. The guy whaled on some big shots that Eric was able to fight off and stay in the rally long enough to cause the error. Then (Pearse Dolan) goes from thinking he has a shot at the set to serving for the match and is quickly down 0-30. If one or both of those other matches aren't extended and Eric loses that point, the whole direction of the match could have changed. Once again, if you get a chance to stay ahead you have to do it so the pressure tilts in the other direction."
Up Next: The Owls hit the road for a pair of matches against former foes from the Southwest Conference. They will take on SMU in Dallas on Sunday and face #3 Texas in Austin on Monday. They return home on the weekend of March 22-24 to host the 61st annual Rice Invitational.
Doubles: The Ragin' Cajuns (16-5) used a 7-5 tiebreaker at the second line to take the first point of the day. They opened with a 6-1 win on the third line, but saw Rice's 40th ranked pair of Eric Rutledge and Sumit Sarkar storm back from an early 2-0 deficit to take a 6-3 at the first line.
Singles: The Owls (8-7) responded to the challenge of a 1-0 deficit immediately, taking four of six first sets in singles and holding the lead on each of those courts despite a strong charge from the Ragin' Cajuns. Mohamed Abdel-Aziz drew the Owls even with a 6-1, 6-1 win at the fifth singles position and Jacob Eskeland followed with a 6-3, 6-1 win at two to put the Owls ahead to stay. At the third position, Eric Rutledge held serve at 5-5 in the second set, winning a long deuce point while simultaneously on court one Sumit Sarkar broke at 3-3 in the second to take command. While both Rutledge and Sarkar were fending off strong challenges to force third sets, Adam Oscislawski rallied from down 4-2 to take a 5-4 lead at the fourth position and Campbell Salmon forced a third set at six to keep Louisiana from cutting into the Owls lead.
Efe Ustundag: "We didn't play that well in doubles, but we still gave ourselves a chance. We couldn't quite close the deal when we had some opportunities. As we've been telling the team, if you have the opportunity, you have to take the lead. We were tied 5-all in the tiebreak (at the second doubles line) and getting that sixth point wouldn't have guaranteed you the match, but it would have forced their freshman to serve at 5-6 for the point. It left a bad taste, but what a response in singles. You take the four first sets. Eric and Sumit had some earlier opportunities to maybe close it out quicker, but it doesn't happen. Eric stayed sharp mentally and gave himself another opportunity to break. Something that doesn't show on the scoreboard was what Adam and Campbell did by not allowing the opposition to put a point on the board. That was invaluable. Those two guys did a phenomenal job of extending their matches. That was when Eric was serving a massive point at 5-5 deuce in the second set. The guy whaled on some big shots that Eric was able to fight off and stay in the rally long enough to cause the error. Then (Pearse Dolan) goes from thinking he has a shot at the set to serving for the match and is quickly down 0-30. If one or both of those other matches aren't extended and Eric loses that point, the whole direction of the match could have changed. Once again, if you get a chance to stay ahead you have to do it so the pressure tilts in the other direction."
Up Next: The Owls hit the road for a pair of matches against former foes from the Southwest Conference. They will take on SMU in Dallas on Sunday and face #3 Texas in Austin on Monday. They return home on the weekend of March 22-24 to host the 61st annual Rice Invitational.
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
3,1,2
#1 Singles Match
12
Galka, Jan / 0 [LA]
54
76
#2 Singles Match
12
Libaud, Arthur / 0 [LA]
30
66
#3 Singles Match
12
Dolan, Pearse / 0 [LA]
55
77
#4 Singles Match
12
Fraser, Jamie / 0 [LA]
67
45
#5 Singles Match
12
Lago, Elio / 0 [LA]
11
66
#6 Singles Match
123
Dworak, Kacper / 0 [LA]
631
260
Order of Finish:
5,2,3,1,4,6
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
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