Rice University
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Dartmouth
Men's Tennis Sweeps Dartmouth, 7-0
3/20/2024 6:28:00 PM | Men's Tennis
HOUSTON, Texas — Rice men's tennis extended its winning streak to four matches with a 7-0 sweep of Dartmouth on Wednesday at the George R. Brown Tennis Center.
Doubles: Doubles play forecasted a tightly contested match as each of the three courts were tied at 3-3 midway through. In the latter half of the matches, however, it was Rice that pulled through to capture the opening point. At the top spot, senior Yasha Zemel and sophomore Kabeer Kapasi put the Owls on the board with a 6-4 win. Senior Trinity Grear and freshman Petro Kuzmenok then clinched the doubles point with a 7-5 win at the second position. At the third court, juniors Arthus de la Bassetiere and Eduardo Morais led in a tiebreak, 6-3, at the time the point was clinched.
Singles: The Owls won in straight sets at five of six positions in singles play, but were frequently pushed deep into sets in those matches. Kapasi was the first Owl to close out their match, winning at the sixth position, 6-4, 6-4. Kuzmenok capped a 6-2, 6-4 win at the fifth spot seconds later to put Rice up, 3-0. The clinching point became a race between Zemel and Grear at the first and second positions, respectively. Grear ultimately won the race by mere seconds, recording a 6-3, 7-5 win at the No. 2s before Zemel further extended Rice's lead with a 6-2, 7-5 win at the top spot in the lineup. Junior Emir Sendogan also won in straight sets at the fourth position, 6-4, 7-5. In the last match to finish, de la Bassetiere rebounded after falling in the first set to win the next two frames as part of a 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory to complete the sweep.
Head coach Efe Ustundag: "I thought it was actually a very valuable win for the team because it was very gritty. It was 7-0 and a lot of straight-set matches, but it was a lot of hard fought sets, a lot of 7-5s, a lot of 6-4s. When we had a chance to serve out a set and didn't, we stayed in there, broke right back and gave ourselves a second chance. There could have been a couple of scenarios where if we got down on ourselves, then we could easily drop a set and now it's a whole new match… This was not so much about the great quality, but it was really about the toughness and the competitive level. So I'm happy about it, very happy."
Up Next: The Owls are set to face Wichita State and UAB as part of the 65th Ralph O'Connor Rice Invitational. The Owls will face the Shockers on Friday, March 22, before concluding the week against the Blazers on Sunday, March 24. All weekend matches are scheduled for 11 a.m. (CT). Rice will also serve as the host for a neutral match between UAB and Wichita State on Saturday, March 23, at 11 a.m. (CT).
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
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#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
1,2
#1 Singles Match
#2 Singles Match
#3 Singles Match
#4 Singles Match
#5 Singles Match
#6 Singles Match
Order of Finish:
6,5,2,1,4,3
Players Mentioned
