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Ustundag kicked off the tournament Oct. 8 with a three-set win over ASU's Ed Carter 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. In the second round Ustundag faced Mississippi's Anders Stemen and again went to three sets, this time winning 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. Of the five matches Ustundag played in the tournament, four of them were decided in the third set.

"Efe was mentally very strong this past weekend, especially considering the fact that he played four three-set matches," Assistant Coach Shaheen Ladhani said.

Ustundag continued his domination all the way to the main draw singles finals, where he came from behind to beat No. 2 seed Martin Sjoqvist of Mississippi 4-6, 6-2, 6-4. The win gave him his second tournament title of the year and also improved his record to an impressive 8-0.

"It was definitely the best tournament of my Rice career," Ustundag said. "I played a lot of tennis -- about five hours a day. I stayed calm and concentrated on my game. I knew I was going to do well."

Also competing in main draw singles were seniors Shane Stone and Robert Collins. Both lost their first-round matches. Stone eventually had to withdraw from singles play due to shin problems, while Collins went on to lose in the consolation bracket final to Mississippi's Martin Selin 2-6, 6-2, 6-0.

In maroon flight singles, senior Sasha Silver and freshman Fabien Giraud eked out first match wins. Following a round-robin format, each player played five matches, with the winner having the best overall record. Freshmen Otmane Bennani-Smires, Rafael Reyes and Prakash Venkataraman also competed in the maroon flight. Emerging as co-champion was Giraud, who won all five of his matches.

While highly successful in singles competition, Rice didn't fare too well in doubles. With just one doubles flight, only two Rice pairs competed. Ustundag and Stone teamed up for their first doubles match of the year. Playing some brilliant tennis, the duo defeated the second-seeded ASU team of Carter and Jeff Williams 8-4. But their doubles success was stopped short with an 8-5 loss to Notre Dame University's Casey Smith and Daly.

"It was a team we should have beaten," Ustundag said of the Notre Dame loss. "We didn't play as well as we should have. It was my sixth match in two days, and it was at night. Shane and I are not known to play well under lights."

The pair of Collins and Venkataraman was also eliminated early on in doubles play, losing in the first round to the Illinois team of Oliver Freelove and Jeff Laski, 8-6, who went on to capture the doubles title.

But overall, it was a succesful weekend for Rice. "We had some good individual performances," Ladhani said. "We were very professional about our preparation, and very disciplined. We know what's required for high-quality performances, and we demonstrated that at ASU."

"The fall season is going great," Ustundag said. "People usually play better in the spring, due to the whole team mentality. It's going to be a great team tennis year if how things are going right now are any indication."

Yesterday Ustundag, Stone and Collins headed up to Arlington to compete in the individual regional tournament for a chance to compete at nationals in February.

This item appeared in the Sports section of the October 16, 1998 issue.