Sunday, March 8
Austin, TX
3:30 PM
Rice University
at
#3 Texas
Owls Set to Face Defending NCAA Champs on Sunday
3/6/2020 3:27:00 PM | Men's Tennis
First serves set for 3:30 p.m.
In Brief: The Rice men's tennis team will take to the road on Sunday when they travel to Austin to take on defending NCAA champion Texas at 3:30 at the Texas Tennis Center.
Video and Results: Texas Scores / Video
Texas: The Longhorns are 10-3 entering weekend action that includes a match with #43 Tulane on Friday night and Tulsa at 11 a.m. on Sunday. Texas comes into the weekend ranked 3rd in the Oracle/ITA national rankings and 7th in the USTA/Tennis Channel top 25.
Ranked Players:
Doubles: 9. Yuya Ito & Christian Sigsgaard (Texas); 74. Yuya Ito & Siem Woldeab (Texas)
Singles: 2. Yuya Ito (Texas); 6. Christian Sigsgaard (Texas); 44. Siem Woldeab (Texas)
Series History: Texas has won the last 14 meetings between the schools, including a 5-2 win last year in Austin. Sumit Sarkar and Campbell Salmon each leveraged tiebreak wins to pick up the Owls points. Sakar defeated Texas's Christian Sigsgaard, who was ranked 4th at the time, 6-4, 7-6 while Salmon downed Rodgrigo Banzer 7-6, 7-5. The Owls last win came in Austin in 2007 when the Owls used three-set wins by Ben Harknett and Jason Mok to rally and take a 4-3 decision. Harknett fought off four match points to force a tiebreaker in the third set and the match tied 3-3. Harnett fought off three match points to win 9-7 and give the Owls their second straight win in the regular season over Texas. Rice defeated Texas 5-2 in 2006 during the regular season, but fell to the Longhorns 4-0 in the second round of the 2006 NCAA Championship.
Defending Champs: This is the first time the Owls have faced the defending NCAA champions in a regular season dual since 2000 when Rice dropped a 7-0 decision on the road to Georgia. That meeting was the Owls second in as many years against the defending NCAA champs. Current Owls' head coach Efe Ustundag played at the first line in singles and doubles when the Owls took on Stanford in 1999.
Owls Notables:
George R. Brown Tennis Center: Rice has posted a 56-20 regular season record at GRBTC (6-6 vs. ranked teams) since opening for the 2015 dual season. The Owls have also posted a 3-1 postseason mark while hosting a pair of Conference USA championships, including a 3-0 mark while winning the 2016 title.
The Schedule Ahead: The Owls remaining schedule features six teams currently in the Oracle/ITA national rankings: #8 TCU, 3/11; #39 Middle Tennessee State, 3/13; @#31 Miami, 3/17; 3/27; #42 Denver, 3/29 and #43Tulane, 4/12 ). The Owls also take on six Conference USA schools (Charlotte, FAU, MTSU, Southern Miss, UAB and UTSA) in the regular season for the first time since Rice joined the conference in 2005.
Next Up: The Owls host #8 TCU at noon on Wednesday at GRBTC.
Follow the Action:
For the most up-to-date information on Rice Tennis follow the Owls on Twitter @RiceTennis or Instagram @ricewtennis or like Rice Men's Tennis on Facebook.
Video and Results: Texas Scores / Video
Texas: The Longhorns are 10-3 entering weekend action that includes a match with #43 Tulane on Friday night and Tulsa at 11 a.m. on Sunday. Texas comes into the weekend ranked 3rd in the Oracle/ITA national rankings and 7th in the USTA/Tennis Channel top 25.
Ranked Players:
Doubles: 9. Yuya Ito & Christian Sigsgaard (Texas); 74. Yuya Ito & Siem Woldeab (Texas)
Singles: 2. Yuya Ito (Texas); 6. Christian Sigsgaard (Texas); 44. Siem Woldeab (Texas)
Series History: Texas has won the last 14 meetings between the schools, including a 5-2 win last year in Austin. Sumit Sarkar and Campbell Salmon each leveraged tiebreak wins to pick up the Owls points. Sakar defeated Texas's Christian Sigsgaard, who was ranked 4th at the time, 6-4, 7-6 while Salmon downed Rodgrigo Banzer 7-6, 7-5. The Owls last win came in Austin in 2007 when the Owls used three-set wins by Ben Harknett and Jason Mok to rally and take a 4-3 decision. Harknett fought off four match points to force a tiebreaker in the third set and the match tied 3-3. Harnett fought off three match points to win 9-7 and give the Owls their second straight win in the regular season over Texas. Rice defeated Texas 5-2 in 2006 during the regular season, but fell to the Longhorns 4-0 in the second round of the 2006 NCAA Championship.
Defending Champs: This is the first time the Owls have faced the defending NCAA champions in a regular season dual since 2000 when Rice dropped a 7-0 decision on the road to Georgia. That meeting was the Owls second in as many years against the defending NCAA champs. Current Owls' head coach Efe Ustundag played at the first line in singles and doubles when the Owls took on Stanford in 1999.
Owls Notables:
- Rice is 4-4 at home and 0-2 on the road in 2020.
- Rice is 4-6 so far this year in the doubles point (4-0 when winning the point).
- The Owls are 2-7 so far in singles tiebreakers, 2-2 in supersets; 2-0 in doubles tiebreaks.
- Clinch points: Jacob Eskeland 2, Adam Oscislawski & Campbell Salmon 1.
George R. Brown Tennis Center: Rice has posted a 56-20 regular season record at GRBTC (6-6 vs. ranked teams) since opening for the 2015 dual season. The Owls have also posted a 3-1 postseason mark while hosting a pair of Conference USA championships, including a 3-0 mark while winning the 2016 title.
The Schedule Ahead: The Owls remaining schedule features six teams currently in the Oracle/ITA national rankings: #8 TCU, 3/11; #39 Middle Tennessee State, 3/13; @#31 Miami, 3/17; 3/27; #42 Denver, 3/29 and #43Tulane, 4/12 ). The Owls also take on six Conference USA schools (Charlotte, FAU, MTSU, Southern Miss, UAB and UTSA) in the regular season for the first time since Rice joined the conference in 2005.
Next Up: The Owls host #8 TCU at noon on Wednesday at GRBTC.
Follow the Action:
For the most up-to-date information on Rice Tennis follow the Owls on Twitter @RiceTennis or Instagram @ricewtennis or like Rice Men's Tennis on Facebook.
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
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