Rice University
Memphis
Men's Tennis Loses Semifinal Heartbreaker to Memphis
4/20/2024 6:00:00 PM | Men's Tennis
TULSA, Oklahoma — Rice men's tennis lost a heartbreaker to top-seeded Memphis, 4-3, on Saturday in the semifinals of the AAC Championships at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center. The fourth-seeded Owls finished the season with a 17-8 record.
Doubles: The Owls swiftly announced the match would be a battle at the start of doubles play. Senior Yasha Zemel and sophomore Kabeer Kapasi defeated the nation's 34th-ranked doubles duo, 6-1, at the first position to give Rice an early boost. With both the second and third positions coming down to tiebreaks, juniors Eduardo Morais and Arthus de la Bassetiere notched the 7-6 (3) victory at the third spot to clinch the doubles point for the Owls. At the second position, senior Trinity Grear and freshman Petro Kuzmenok also led, 6-2, in their tiebreak and faced several opportunities to win the set before the doubles point was clinched.
Singles: In singles action, junior Emir Sendogan extended Rice's lead to 2-0 with a straight-sets win at the fourth position, 6-1, 6-3. The lead was short-lived, however, as the Tigers posted wins at the first and third positions to tie the match at 2-2. At the sixth position, Kapasi restored Rice's lead with a bounce-back effort in the final frame to win, 6-2, 1-6, 6-3. Needing only one point to clinch the win, the Owls fell in heartbreaking fashion at the second and fifth positions, dropping tiebreaks in both matches as Memphis completed the comeback to advance to the AAC championship match.
Season Recap: The Owls advanced to the semifinals of the conference championship for the first time since reaching the Conference USA semifinals in 2019. At 17 wins, Rice posted its highest win total since winning 23 matches in back-to-back seasons in 2016 and 2017.
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:
4,1,3,6,2,5
Players Mentioned
