Rice University
Air Force
Men's Tennis Posts 6-1 Win Over Air Force
3/2/2024 4:43:00 PM | Men's Tennis
HOUSTON, Texas — Rice men's tennis defeated Air Force, 6-1, on Saturday at the George R. Brown Tennis Center. The win improves the Owls to 7-6 on the season.
Doubles: In their first match at the George R. Brown Tennis Center since Jan. 13, the Owls came out of the gates strong. At the first position of doubles play, senior Yasha Zemel and sophomore Kabeer Kapasi combined for a strong 6-3 win before juniors Arthus de la Bassetiere and Eduardo Morais clinched the doubles point for Rice with a 6-4 win at the third spot. At court two, senior Trinity Grear and freshman Petro Kuzmenok battled to a 5-5 draw when the point was clinched.
Singles: Ahead 1-0 entering singles, Rice continued to press the initiative, winning the first set at five of six positions in the lineup. Junior Emir Sendogan was the first Owl to finish out his match, winning at the fourth position, 6-1, 6-2. After dropping behind a break in the first set, Zemel blitzed his opponent to come back for a first-set win and post a 6-0 mark in set two to put Rice on the brink of victory. Kapasi then earned the honors of the clinching point with a 6-3, 6-3 victory at the sixth position. Playing the match to completion, Grear added a 6-3, 6-4 win at the second position and Kuzmenok finished out the Owl scoring with a win at the No. 5s, 7-6 (5), 6-4.
Head coach Efe Ustundag: "It was a good match for us. A solid doubles point; early on, it was pretty neck and neck but I love the fact that the threes jumped to a really strong start. It put some early pressure on the other side. It felt like every opportunity we had, we took, which gave us the lead. In singles. I was really happy with a quick 1-2-3 punch… Thanks to Air Force for coming out here for one match. We had a battle at their place last year, so it was good to host them back here and I'm happy with the results. Now, we'll take a little bit of time off and get ready for a California swing over spring break."
Up Next: The Owls head to California on a two-game road trip. Rice will take on No. 75 UC Santa Barbara on Monday, March 11, at 1 p.m. (CT), before concluding the week at Cal Poly on Thursday, March 14, at 2 p.m. (CT).
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
1,3
#1 Singles Match
#2 Singles Match
#3 Singles Match
#4 Singles Match
#5 Singles Match
#6 Singles Match
Order of Finish:
4,1,6,2,3,5
Players Mentioned
