Saturday, April 17
Houston, Texas
11 AM
Rice University
0
vs
4
Tulane
Green Wave Foil Owls on Senior Day
4/17/2021 2:20:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Conference USA Championship up next
In Brief: The Rice men's tennis team saw their hopes for an upset win on Senior Day quashed by #20 Tulane as the Green Wave downed the Owls 4-0 at the George R. Brown Tennis Center on Saturday.
Doubles: Tulane snapped up the first point of the match with wins at the first and third lines, while Rice's Mohamed Abdel-Aziz and AJ Valenty picked up a 6-2 win at the second line for the Owls.
Singles: Facing an uphill battle to capture four singles matches in order to win, the Owls split the first six sets of singles but were unable to extend any of the three they lost to a third set. Tulane closed out matches at the first three lines to win for the fourth consecutive time and tie the series at eight wins each.
Efe Ustundag: "In doubles we got a quick break back at one to even things out (at 3-3) but we could not create a lead. I was really happy with the match we played at two. In singles we were a little over matched at the top of the lineup, but at the bottom it was a battle. The top of their lineup was very strong and they were on today. At no point did it feel like they were giving us an opportunity. We were battling tooth and nail to hang in there and you can only do that for so long when you are playing a Top 20 team. It was a match at four, five and six. I was happy those guys took first sets. Trinity was down 4-1 in the first, but battled back as he does so well. I thought we might have a chance to grab a point, but their guys at four and five battled back."
Up Next: The Owls will travel to Charlotte, North Carolina next week for the Conference USA Championship. The tournament seedings and schedule will be released on Monday.
Doubles: Tulane snapped up the first point of the match with wins at the first and third lines, while Rice's Mohamed Abdel-Aziz and AJ Valenty picked up a 6-2 win at the second line for the Owls.
Singles: Facing an uphill battle to capture four singles matches in order to win, the Owls split the first six sets of singles but were unable to extend any of the three they lost to a third set. Tulane closed out matches at the first three lines to win for the fourth consecutive time and tie the series at eight wins each.
Efe Ustundag: "In doubles we got a quick break back at one to even things out (at 3-3) but we could not create a lead. I was really happy with the match we played at two. In singles we were a little over matched at the top of the lineup, but at the bottom it was a battle. The top of their lineup was very strong and they were on today. At no point did it feel like they were giving us an opportunity. We were battling tooth and nail to hang in there and you can only do that for so long when you are playing a Top 20 team. It was a match at four, five and six. I was happy those guys took first sets. Trinity was down 4-1 in the first, but battled back as he does so well. I thought we might have a chance to grab a point, but their guys at four and five battled back."
Up Next: The Owls will travel to Charlotte, North Carolina next week for the Conference USA Championship. The tournament seedings and schedule will be released on Monday.
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
3,1,2
#1 Singles Match
12
Hamish Stewart / 0 (30/-) [TLN]
66
34
#2 Singles Match
12
Ewan Moore / 0 [TLN]
66
42
#3 Singles Match
12
Luis Erlenbusch / 0 [TLN]
66
30
#4 Singles Match
123
Billy Suarez / 0 [TLN]
450
61UF
#5 Singles Match
123
Akos Kotorman / 0 [TLN]
160
63UF
#6 Singles Match
12
Rafael de Alba / 0 [TLN]
50
7UF
Order of Finish:
3,2,1
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
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