Men's tennis aims for C-USA title

By Luke Samora     1/13/14 6:00pm

As 2014 begins, the Rice University men's tennis team is ready to jump-start its season with home matches this week against the University of Texas, Austin and Louisiana State University. After a 4-0 loss to the University of Memphis in the Conference USA semifinals last season, the Owls have their eyes set on the main prize this year: the C-USA Championship.

Head Coach Efe Ustundag, who has eight seasons of experience, said the team ultimately wants to make it to the NCAA tournament.

"We set two goals at the beginning of the season," Ustundag said. "One [was] to win the C-USA championships, and the second was to qualify for the NCAA championship. I believe we have the quality to achieve both."

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The team will have to look for contributions from four new freshmen and one junior transfer. Jonathan Chang (Wiess '13), Peter Frank (Martel '13) and senior Philipp Seifert have graduated and been replaced by jun ior Srikar Alla and freshmen Zachary Yablon, David Warren, Max Andrews and Henrik Munch.

Ustundag said he expects all of these players to make a major impact and help the team this season.

"We have four new freshmen in Zach, David, Max and Henrik and a junior transfer in Srikar who we expect to help the team immediately," Ustundag said. "This class is going to be instrumental in the success of this [team], and I expect a good portion of these newcomers to be starters for us this semester and [help us] compete [in] C-USA."

Without any seniors on the team, younger players may have to step up and be leaders when the situation calls for it, Ustundag said.

"It's always tough when you lose quality senior leadership like you had in Jonathan and Peter," Ustundag said. "But at the same time, I feel like this year's team has a much different vibe and [overall] character. They are very committed to leaving their footprints on the program. So far, it has been a complete team effort in leadership. They are doing a great job holding each other accountable and responsible. I expect every one of them to step up and lead this team."

Last weekend, as a warmup for the start of the season, the team played in the University of Central Florida quad tournament in Orlando, Fla. The Owls played against the University of Louisville, Texas Christian University, Indiana University, UCF and The Citadel. Andrews capped off an undefeated singles weekend (4-0) by defeating TCU freshman Andres Alfonzo 6-2 on Sunday.

Ustundag said the tournament challenged the players and helped prepare them for the upcoming games against UT and LSU this weekend. 

"The Orlando trip accomplished much of what we wanted to [achieve]," Ustundag said. "We played four quality matches, and each [player] was pushed physically and mentally. It also gave us the opportunity to see how everyone looked after a long break where they had to work out on their own. Overall, this gave us the best opportunity to prepare for LSU and Texas, two teams which have had very good fall season results and two teams that our guys are really excited to play right off the bat."

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