Men's tennis goes home to sweep opponents
Returning to their nest at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium after their slip-up last weekend at Louisiana State University, 34th ranked Rice continued their undefeated streak at home (5-0) with an impressive 7-0 win over the University of Louisiana-Lafayette (0-5) on Friday and 6-1 wins over the University of Texas-San Antonio (2-2) and Abilene Christian University (2-2). To add to the Owls' weekend triumphs, senior Oscar Podlewski was named the Conference USA Tennis Athlete of the Week after he went 3-0 on the weekend.
On Friday against Louisiana-Lafayette, Rice easily won the doubles point as they won all three doubles matches. In singles, Podlewski, juniors Sam Garforth-Bles and Isamu Tachibana, sophomores Harry Fowler and Peter Frank and freshman Philipp Seifert all recorded victories.
On Saturday, the Owls played a doubleheader, as they started first by beating UTSA. Against the Roadrunners, the Owls won the necessary two out of three doubles matches to take the doubles point and take an early 1-0 lead. Podlewski, juniors Christian Saravia and Tachibana, sophomore Jonathan Chang and Seifert won their respective matches.
Later in the day, the Owls finished off the weekend with a sweep as they put away Abilene Christian. The Owls recorded the doubles point as they won two out of the three matches. After that, Rice dominated singles play as they won five out of the six matches thanks to victories by Podlewski, juniors Michael Nuesslein, Tachibana, Saravia, and Chang.
The Owls are now 8-2 on the season as they go into a rare weekend without a match before they resume play on Feb. 28 when they head to San Diego to play 54th ranked San Diego State University (1-6) and 53rd ranked University of San Diego (6-2) two days later.
Assistant Coach Efe Ustundag said that this free weekend needs to be used to focus on fixing a few things, along with recovering from injuries so the team is at its best when heading to San Diego in two weeks.
"This is probably our last free weekend for a very long time," Ustundag said, "If we could use the next two weeks to our advantage and to focus on the little things and to get the injuries out of the way, then we can go to San Diego with a strong, both mentally and physically, team."
Podlewski feels that this is good for the players as they get a weekend to relax and recuperate from the first part of the season.
"I think it is good to have a weekend off because it relaxes you mentally so it is very refreshing," Podlewski said.
Heading into California in two weekends, Podlewski feels that Rice should be cautious after what happened at LSU two weeks before, but he believes the team has learned from that and will not fall into the same trap.
"[San Diego State and San Diego] are going to want to get a ranked win against a team like Rice," Podlewski said. "So if we are not careful, they are going to come out like LSU did against us, but even if they do, we will be prepared this time."
Although Ustundag does feel that San Diego State can provide a threat, he feels that Rice needs to be ready to play San Diego, who already has several ranked wins this season and their only two losses have been to teams ranked in the top 10. They also have the seventh ranked doubles team in the nation.
Ustundag sees this match as crucial as this could be a big win for the Owls to help their NCAA chances against a team that is a force to be reckoned with.
"They are flying under the radar under the moment in terms of national recognition and this is going to be one of the key matches this season and will play a role in terms of how our ranking is effective," Ustundag said.
Podlewski knows that no matter who the opponent is, Rice has to give it their all if they hope to win and keep succeeding in the future on the road to the NCAA tournament.
"When we go to San Diego for spring break, we know that we have to play every match as if we are playing against the University of Texas," Podlewski said.
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