May 2024 Newsletter
The Rice men’s tennis team will play in the NCAA Championship for the first time since 2017, receiving an at-large spot, and will meet the 15th seeded Texas A&M team in College Station in early May. The team scored three wins in April against Tulsa, Crieghton and UTSA, with losses to Memphis and Arkansas.
The Lady Owls competed in their first-ever AAU (American Athletic Conference) competition, defeating South Florida in the quarterfinals before falling to SMU in the semis. They also had April wins against South Florida, Florida Atlantic and Prairie View A&M, with a loss to FIU.
The St. Thomas men’s team finished their season with a win over Dallas and losses to Schreiner, Colorado College and LeTourneau. The women beat Dallas and lost to Colorado College, Le Tourneau and Mary-Hardin Baylor. They played Schreiner twice, winning one match and losing another.
St. Thomas teammates Aimee Tran of Houston and Nataly Velasco of Baytown were selected as the SCAC (Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference) women’s doubles team of the week for matches played during April 8 to 14.
The University of Houston women’s team had a disappointing April with four losses and a first-round defeat at the Big 12 Championship in Stillwater, Okla. University of Houston Vice President of Athletics Chris Pezman announced that a national search is underway for a new head tennis coach.
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April 2024 Newsletter
March was a good month for Rice men’s tennis. They posted wins over Presbyterian, Wichita State, UAB, Dartmouth, Cal Poly, UC Santa Barbara and Air Force with nary a loss.
On the distaff side the Rice women were victors over Charlotte, North Texas, Tulsa, Sam Houston and UNLV, while falling to Columbia and SMU. During March they signed Fernanda Martinez of Mexico City, Mexico. Martinez obtained a career-high ranking of 74 in the ITF pro rankings in August 2023,
The University of Houston women’s tennis team eked out a win over Prairie View in March but suffered losses to seven teams.
The St. Thomas men’s team won March matches over McMurry and Howard Payne and lost to Texas Lutheran. The Lady Celts swept their March matches over McMurry, Howard Payne and Texas Lutheran.
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March 2024 Newsletter
The Rice men’s tennis team beat Tulane and UT Arlington in February and lost to LSU and SMU. At the Blue Gray Classic in Montgomery, Ala., they lost to Alabama and split matches with Middle Tennessee.
Rice women had victories over UTSA and Louisiana Tech and losses to San Diego, A&M and LSU.
Seniors Yasha Zemel of Israel and Federica Trevisan of Italy were honored at Rice’s 38th Annual Scholar Athlete Celebration for their character and accomplishment in school and in sport.
The University of Houston’s women’s team fell to UT Arlington, Louisiana Tech, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. and North Texas in February.
Over at St. Thomas University, the men’s and the women’s teams lost to Concordia and East Texas Baptist. The men’s team plays McMurry, Howard Payne and Texas Lutheran in March, and the women meet McMurry, Howard Payne, Arkansas Tech and Texas Lutheran.
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February 2024 Newsletter
The University of Houston’s women’s team opened their season with a January victory over Louisiana’s Rajun’ Cajuns.
The Rice Lady Owls suffered losses in January to Northwestern, TCU and Harvard. The men’s team beat Lamar and Prairie View A&M but lost to Princeton and TCU.
The University of St. Thomas men’s and women’s teams will open competition against Southwestern February 10.
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January 2024 Newsletter
Houston college tennis teams begin their spring action in January.
The Rice men’s tennis team hosts Prairie View in a doubleheader January 15. Men’s tennis coach Efe Ustundag announced the addition of Joshua Mandelbaum and Gabriel Porras to the 2024-25 roster. Mandelbaum joins the Owls out of Newark Academy in Livingston, N.J., and was ranked as the 44th recruit in the nation, achieving a No. 1 national doubles ranking in 2021. Porras joins the Owls out of Guatemala City, Guatemala, and was ranked as high as 329th in the World ITF junior rankings.
Rice women’s tennis head coach Elizabeth Schmidt announced the signing of Nithesa Selvaraj from the Virtual School Victoria in Griffin, Queensland, Australia. Selvaraj ranks 54th in the Australian women rankings and eighth in the Australian junior girls rankings.
University of Houston head coach Helena Besovic announced that they will open their spring schedule January 28 against Louisiana. Their schedule includes matches against 11 opponents who finished last season in the top 75 nationally.
The St. Thomas men’s and women’s teams, who share Head Coach Jack Brasington III and Assistant Coach Fausto Catoni, begin their spring competition February 3 at Mary Hardin Baylor College.
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May 2021 Newsletter
The Rice men’s tennis team’s 2021 season came to an end as Old Dominion defeated the Owls 4-0 in the quarterfinals of the 2021 Conference USA Men’s Tennis Championship at the Halton-Wagner Tennis Complex in Charlotte, N.C. Their overall record for the season was 9-12.
Nevertheless, Coach Efe Ustundag expressed pride in his team. “I am proud of them, especially our three seniors (Mohamed Abdel-Aziz, Jacob Eskeland, Conrad Russell) who gave us everything they had and made a huge impact on the culture of this program. They have laid down the challenge for the returners and for our talented group of incoming players to build on this and continue to build this program.”
The Lady Owls finished the season with a 15-6 record. Six players were named to the USA Women’s tennis team—Linda Huang and Federica Trevisan to the singles first team, while Anna Bowtell and Michaela Haef were named to the team, and Maria Budin and Diae El Jardi were named to the doubles second team. Trevisan was also tabbed for the all-freshman team.
The Lady Owls saw their regular season end with a loss in the Conference USA semifinals. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA Championship this May to extend their streak to nine appearances.
The St. Thomas men’s tennis team record stands at 9-6 as of May 3, with one match remaining against Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., on May 6.
The St. Thomas women finished with an 11-3 record.
The Lady Cougars at the University of Houston finished their regular season with a 15-8 record and reached the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference Tennis Championships in Orlando, Fla.
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April 2021 Newsletter
The Rice men’s tennis team finished March with wins over Abilene Christian, Trinity, Texas A&M/Corpus Christi and UT Arlington, with losses to Texas Tech and FAU.
Their April schedule at the GRBTC includes matches against SMU (10th), Prairie A&M (11th), and Tulane (17th). Then it’s off to the Conference USA Championship in Charlotte, N.C., April 23-25.
Coach Efe Unstundag appreciates all the fans coming out to cheer on the Owls team.
Rice women had March wins over UTSA, Memphis, North Texas, Tulane and UT Arlington and one loss to UT Texas and will face FIU (April 2) and USF (April 3) in Miami, Fla. They return home for the rest of April matches against SMU (10th) and Prairie View A&M (11th) at the GRBTC and the University of Houston (17th) at the Barbara Wallace Winston Tennis Facility. The team heads for the Conference USA Championships in Denton, Texas, April 22-25.
The St. Thomas men’s tennis team collected March wins over Carthage College, University of St. Scholastica, Concordia and St. Mary’s University, while falling to the University of North Dakota and Creighton University. They have April matches against the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Bethel University, St. John’s University, St. Olaf College, MacAlester College, Hamline University, Drake University and Carleton College.
The St. Thomas women creamed Texas Lutheran, LeTourneau and the College of St. Benedict 9-0 in March and had an 8-1 victory over St. Mary’s and St. Catherine universities, with losses to the universities of North Dakota, Nebraska at Omaha and Creighton. They will meet Wisconsin, Bethel University and Hamline universities, and Carleton, MacAlester, St. Olaf and Gustavus Adolphus colleges in April.
Over at the University of Houston, the women’s team took March wins over Cincinnati, Tulane, Southeastern Louisiana and UTRGV with losses to Memphis and Baylor.
Their April schedule includes match-ups with Texas (2nd), Prairie View A&M (9th), SMU (11th), Lamar (11th) and Rice (17th). They will compete in the American Athletic Conference Tennis Championships April 21-25 in Orlando, Fla.