Saturday, April 10
Houston, Texas
11 AM
Rice University
3
vs
4
SMU
Tiebreaker Decides Turpin Cup
4/10/2021 4:17:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Owls Host Prairie View at 11 a.m. Sunday
Houston: The Rice men's tennis team battled #50 SMU for over three hours, but the Mustangs prevailed in third set tiebreaker to take a 4-3 decision at the George R. Brown Tennis Center on Saturday. The win was the second annual match for the Turpin Cup, which honors former Rice All-American Jack Turpin.
Doubles: SMU struck first with a win at the second line, but the Owls held early leads on the other courts. Both matches came down to crucial deuce points with Rice serving at 5-5. Mohamed Abdel-Aziz and Conrad Russell, who were playing together in a dual for the first time since the 2018 C-USA Championship, fought off the break point and then closed out a 7-5 win, but SMU earned the break on the third line and then converted a deuce point to win 7-5 and take the first point.
Singles: Face with the need to win four singles matches to pick up the win, the Owls started strongly, taking four of six first sets in singles. The Mustangs maintained extended the lead to 3-0 buy closing out their two courts where they had taken first sets, but the Owls struck back with straight set wins at the opposite ends of the courts as Sumit Sarkar won at the first line and Trinity Grear at six. The final points were played side by side at the second and third lines, with Mohamed Abdel-Aziz taking advantage of a late break to tie the match with a three-set win. Campbell Salmon fought back repeatedly from service breaks with breaks of his own to send the outcome to a tiebreaker, which SMU captured 7-5 to close out the win.
Efe Ustundag: "It was a hell of a college match. These are the matches you come to work for. This is why I coach college tennis. The love and compassion they show for each other, the support, the fight, the energy of a great crowd. I am sad for the guys that this did not go their way. We came out of a doubles point that clearly was on our racquet and for the most part we put that behind us and battled. We won three of the matches where we won the first set, and Campbell's came down to a tiebreaker. I am proud of them. I feel like every SMU match is like this, coming down to the wire, to one or two shots. I wanted that match so badly for Campbell, he kept battling and battling. The only lead he had in the third set was when he was 2-0 in the tiebreaker. He saved a couple match points at 6-5."
Up Next: The Owls will join with the Rice women to host host Prairie View at 11 a.m. on Sunday.
Doubles: SMU struck first with a win at the second line, but the Owls held early leads on the other courts. Both matches came down to crucial deuce points with Rice serving at 5-5. Mohamed Abdel-Aziz and Conrad Russell, who were playing together in a dual for the first time since the 2018 C-USA Championship, fought off the break point and then closed out a 7-5 win, but SMU earned the break on the third line and then converted a deuce point to win 7-5 and take the first point.
Singles: Face with the need to win four singles matches to pick up the win, the Owls started strongly, taking four of six first sets in singles. The Mustangs maintained extended the lead to 3-0 buy closing out their two courts where they had taken first sets, but the Owls struck back with straight set wins at the opposite ends of the courts as Sumit Sarkar won at the first line and Trinity Grear at six. The final points were played side by side at the second and third lines, with Mohamed Abdel-Aziz taking advantage of a late break to tie the match with a three-set win. Campbell Salmon fought back repeatedly from service breaks with breaks of his own to send the outcome to a tiebreaker, which SMU captured 7-5 to close out the win.
Efe Ustundag: "It was a hell of a college match. These are the matches you come to work for. This is why I coach college tennis. The love and compassion they show for each other, the support, the fight, the energy of a great crowd. I am sad for the guys that this did not go their way. We came out of a doubles point that clearly was on our racquet and for the most part we put that behind us and battled. We won three of the matches where we won the first set, and Campbell's came down to a tiebreaker. I am proud of them. I feel like every SMU match is like this, coming down to the wire, to one or two shots. I wanted that match so badly for Campbell, he kept battling and battling. The only lead he had in the third set was when he was 2-0 in the tiebreaker. He saved a couple match points at 6-5."
Up Next: The Owls will join with the Rice women to host host Prairie View at 11 a.m. on Sunday.
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
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