Women’s and men’s tennis win C-USA titles

By Chuck Pool

Both Rice women’s and men’s tennis teams won Conference USA titles over the weekend. The women’s tennis team became the first to win four consecutive C-USA championships, and they joined the Rice men in becoming the third school to sweep the C-USA titles in the same year. Tulane and Tulsa are the previous winners.

Women’s tennis

The Rice women’s tennis team won the C-USA title for the fourth consecutive year.

Freshman Emily Smith roared back from an opening set defeat to provide the clinching point for the championship as Rice beat Florida International University (FIU) 4-1 at the Adams Tennis Complex in Murfreesboro, Tenn., April 24.

Rice (13-9) earned a fifth consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament with the win as well as allowing senior Solo Zinko to extend her career while becoming the first women’s tennis player in league history to win four rings.

The win over the top-seeded Panthers was the Owls’ sixth in the last seven matches, a streak that came on the heels of a six-match losing streak that saw them drop to 64th from 29th in the national rankings. Rice head coach Elizabeth Schmidt said the seeds of this championship were sown in the way the team battled through that rough patch.

“I’m just really thrilled for our team right now because I know how hard they’ve worked every day and the growth they’ve had this whole year,” Schmidt said. “It really all came together today and we played a really solid match from start to finish.”

“This year we had to overcome a lot of adversity, so I am just ecstatic to get the fourth one,” Zinko said. “It feels amazing and shows that we are on the right track. Each year is a new challenge. Just because you won before doesn’t mean you will win it again.”
Smith and Katherine Ip keyed a strong effort in doubles as the Owls jumped out to an early lead. The duo, who is ranked 48th in the country, finished first with a quick 6-2 win. Zinko and Savannah Durkin then closed it out with a 6-3 win on court three.

Once singles began, the Owls again were led by the depth of their lineup as Durkin and Alison Ho each capped perfect weekends by picking up their third wins in singles. Zinko won her first set, but FIU took the first sets on the remaining three courts, including Smith on court three, and the clinching fourth point was proving elusive.

Smith shook off her opening-set loss to even her match, and while Zinko was in an extended battle in her second set, the freshman from Birmingham, England, suddenly found herself in position to deliver the clinch.

“I didn’t realize that Alison (Ho) had finished,” Smith said. (After winning) … “I was getting ready to run over and watch everyone else and I saw everyone running toward me. When everyone was hugging me, I was close to tears (because) it was so incredible. I didn’t realize it was going to feel that good. Everyone had said it was amazing, but you can’t really describe it.”

As the newcomer to the C-USA Championship experience, Smith gave her teammates the credit for the chance to add another chapter to the story.

“On a certain level, the girls are saying let’s go out and get this done, but it’s never easy—never a given,” she said. “This team works so hard and it shows at crunch time. I would not want to go to NCAA’s (tournament) with any other group of girls.”

As for Zinko, she admitted the fourth title was just as sweet as the first, but she also knows that there is more tennis ahead.

“It’s great to win today, but our season isn’t over and now we have to prepare for the NCAA tournament,” she said.

Men’s tennis

The Rice men’s tennis team won the C-USA title.

Spurred on by a raucous crowd of 537, the 26th-ranked Rice men’s tennis team rode a blistering start in doubles and the steady play of their lineup to down Old Dominion University (ODU) 4-2 and capture the school’s first Conference USA tennis title since 2010 at the George R. Brown Tennis Center April 24.

The Owls (23-7), who won for the 22nd time in 23 matches on their home court and delivered a second consecutive championship to the 2-year-old facility — matching the Rice women’s title in 2015, had to absorb a strong counterpunch by the 45th-ranked Monarchs. Old Dominion shook off the doubles loss to take a 2-1 lead before the Owls laid claim to the trophy with wins on courts four, five and six.

“What a great feeling in front of our crowd,” Rice head coach Efe Ustundag said. “The performance in doubles really set the tone. You wonder how the team will manage the nerves and how they will handle (playing) the last match at home where we’ve been thankfully so successful. We took that doubles point in short order and really didn’t give them a chance to get back into it.”

The Owls and Monarchs split the first sets in singles, keeping Rice on pace to reach the clinching fourth point, but Ustundag knew that ODU, which came into Sunday’s final having won 19 of its last 20, would not go quietly.

“Old Dominion is a heck of a team who has had so much success and we knew they were going to make some sort of a run,” Ustundag said.

The Monarchs surged to wins on courts one and three to take a 2-1 lead, but the Owls pair of freshmen Manny Llamas and Jake Hansen responded with wins on courts six and four to edge Rice to within a point of the clinch, leaving that opportunity open to a pair of juniors.

On court two Tommy Bennett had raced to a quick win in his first set against ODU’s Aziz Kijametovic, 6-2, but Kijametovic proved unwilling to surrender the second set as easily. On court five Warren dropped his first set 6-1 to Zvonimir Podvinski but answered with a 6-1 win of his own in the second.

Ustundag knew both players were aware of the moment at hand as well as the score in the others’ court.

“We knew it was in sight and I think Old Dominion knew it was in sight,” he said. “At that point it’s just a matter of keeping focused on your court. Tommy was watching David with one eye, and David was watching Tommy. It’s tough to keep that focus but these guys have been clutch all year long. David has been phenomenal all year and Tommy has been just as tough.”

While Bennett was fighting to force a second set tiebreaker, Warren continued his strong play and delivered the clinching moment with a 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 win over Podvinski.

“It’s an absolutely unbelievable feeling,” Warren said. “I had complete faith that Tommy would come through as well. I told Efe earlier in the year that if we came through and won conference, there would be no feeling even close to it. To have that come true is unbelievable and something this team has been dreaming about for three years.”
Ustundag and Warren both gave the turnout ample credit for the win.

“They earned this win as much as we did,” Ustundag said. “It was especially gratifying to lift that trophy in front of them.”

“We could not have done it without them,” Warren said.

Four years after he took the helm of his alma mater’s men’s tennis program, Ustundag basked in the accomplishment of his team. “It’s been a tough time (to get here). We had three straight losing records prior to this one, but the pieces all came together. We had injured players come back and freshmen step up and make an immediate impact. We had upperclassmen that just keep getting better and better.

“This really is the best time to be a Rice Owl. We have one senior and with this kind of fan support and administrative support and the facility we have, we can only aim higher,” he said.

— Chuck Pool is assistant athletic director, media relations.