Sunday, February 7
Nashville, TN
10:30 AM
Rice University
2
at
5
Vanderbilt
Photo by: Truman McDaniel/Vanderbilt Athletics
Owls Drop 5-2 Decision to Vanderbilt
2/7/2021 4:04:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Open 14-match homestand on Saturday
Nashville: The Rice men's tennis team started fast but could not hold off a Vanderbilt rally as the Commodores took a 5-2 decision at the Currey Tennis Center on Sunday.
Doubles: After dropping the doubles point in a tiebreak on Friday night at Middle Tennessee, the Owls flipped the script to and used a tiebreaker victory to grab the doubles point for the fifth time in seven matches. Sumit Sarkar and Conrad Russell gave the Owls the early advantage with a 6-3 at the first line, breaking open a 3-3 tie by winning three consecutive deuce points. After the Commodores won at the second line, Wes Barnett and Trinity Grear put the loss of a 5-2 lead at the third line behind them and grabbed the point with a 7-3 win in the tiebreaker.
Singles: Mohamed Abdel-Aziz competed an undefeated weekend in singles, racing to a 6-2, 6-0 win over Max Freeman to extend the lead to 2-0, but Vandy seized the momentum by winning the other five first singles sets and winning three in straight sets. Trailing 3-2, the Owls saw Campbell Salmon rally from 4-1 down in the third set to force a tiebreaker before falling 8-6 to give the Commodores the clinching point.
Efe Ustundag: "This was a tough road trip. Both MTSU and Vandy are very good programs (ranked 41st and 42nd at the time of shutdown in 2020). Having this team back together since January and every day were are out on the court competing together is a step in the right direction. After dropping a tough doubles point on Friday night, we responded well today and our young guys at three played a really good tiebreak to secure the point. Vandy is a very solid SEC team and it was a down day for a couple of our guys in singles, who played well against MTSU but were not at their best today. Campbell Salmon responded well today after having a tough night on Friday, losing his third set 6-0. He was down 4-1 in the third today and had match point in the tiebreaker. It was a slugfest and the thing he did today was play more aggressively on defense. Mo had a great weekend to be sure. Trinity showed a lot of grit after rolling is ankle in warmups. Even though he couldn't put any weight on his right ankle, he was able to stay out there and did his best to give Campbell the chance to tie the match back up. We're playing well, we're competing hard, we're doing a lot of things right and my message to the team was things are going to start breaking our way. We've got a lot of great opportunities coming up at home, and hopefully we can start having fans back in the stands. This team plays with great heart and is getting better and better.
Up Next: The Owls host a pair of opponents next week, opening a stretch of 14 straight home duals. They will join with the Rice women's team to host UTA on Saturday at 11 and then welcome UT-Tyler on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Doubles: After dropping the doubles point in a tiebreak on Friday night at Middle Tennessee, the Owls flipped the script to and used a tiebreaker victory to grab the doubles point for the fifth time in seven matches. Sumit Sarkar and Conrad Russell gave the Owls the early advantage with a 6-3 at the first line, breaking open a 3-3 tie by winning three consecutive deuce points. After the Commodores won at the second line, Wes Barnett and Trinity Grear put the loss of a 5-2 lead at the third line behind them and grabbed the point with a 7-3 win in the tiebreaker.
Singles: Mohamed Abdel-Aziz competed an undefeated weekend in singles, racing to a 6-2, 6-0 win over Max Freeman to extend the lead to 2-0, but Vandy seized the momentum by winning the other five first singles sets and winning three in straight sets. Trailing 3-2, the Owls saw Campbell Salmon rally from 4-1 down in the third set to force a tiebreaker before falling 8-6 to give the Commodores the clinching point.
Efe Ustundag: "This was a tough road trip. Both MTSU and Vandy are very good programs (ranked 41st and 42nd at the time of shutdown in 2020). Having this team back together since January and every day were are out on the court competing together is a step in the right direction. After dropping a tough doubles point on Friday night, we responded well today and our young guys at three played a really good tiebreak to secure the point. Vandy is a very solid SEC team and it was a down day for a couple of our guys in singles, who played well against MTSU but were not at their best today. Campbell Salmon responded well today after having a tough night on Friday, losing his third set 6-0. He was down 4-1 in the third today and had match point in the tiebreaker. It was a slugfest and the thing he did today was play more aggressively on defense. Mo had a great weekend to be sure. Trinity showed a lot of grit after rolling is ankle in warmups. Even though he couldn't put any weight on his right ankle, he was able to stay out there and did his best to give Campbell the chance to tie the match back up. We're playing well, we're competing hard, we're doing a lot of things right and my message to the team was things are going to start breaking our way. We've got a lot of great opportunities coming up at home, and hopefully we can start having fans back in the stands. This team plays with great heart and is getting better and better.
Up Next: The Owls host a pair of opponents next week, opening a stretch of 14 straight home duals. They will join with the Rice women's team to host UTA on Saturday at 11 and then welcome UT-Tyler on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
1,2,3
#1 Singles Match
12
52
George Harwell / 0 (117/-) [VANDY]
76
#2 Singles Match
12
44
Marcus Ferreira / 0 [VANDY]
66
#3 Singles Match
12
66
Max Freeman / 0 [VANDY]
20
#4 Singles Match
123
366
Macsen Sisam / 0 [VANDY]
617
#5 Singles Match
12
22
Jeremie Casabon / 0 [VANDY]
66
#6 Singles Match
12
12
Joubert Klopper / 0 [VANDY]
66
Order of Finish:
3,5,1,2,4,6
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
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