Men’s tennis wins AAC Championship with major upset

By Andersen Pickard     4/22/25 11:22pm

Rice men’s tennis traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, and pulled off a series of upset victories en route to winning the American Athletic Conference Championship.

“We knew we were close with a lot of these teams, and if we took these doubles points, that we were going to be in a really good position to possibly win these matches,” said Efe Üstündağ, the men’s tennis head coach.

Ranked fifth in the conference, Rice opened the weekend’s competition with a 4-1 victory over No. 4 University of Tulsa. 

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Junior Santiago Navarro and sophomore Petro Kuzmenok overcame a 4-1 deficit to tie their court before eventually winning and earning the doubles point for Rice. The Owls also answered an early Tulsa singles win with three consecutive victories, sealing the win and punching their ticket to the semifinals.

Rice advanced to face No. 1 University of South Florida Saturday, and both teams saw momentum swing in their favor at various moments throughout the match. 

Freshman Tommy Czaplinski and senior Eduardo Morais secured the doubles point for Rice, and although USF briefly pulled ahead in singles play, the Owls rallied to win.

“After the first two matches, we really started to believe that [winning the tournament] could be possible,” junior Kabeer Kapasi said.

In the conference championship Sunday, Rice faced off against No. 2 University of Memphis, which hosted the tournament. The Owls earned a doubles point before the third game went final, and a brief Memphis run was stifled by Kuzmenok, who won his singles court to reclaim the lead for Rice. Soon after, Navarro won his third set, clinching the championship for the Owls.

“Once I hit that shot, it was just so many different emotions,” Navarro said. “Throwing my racket was my first instinct, and then just looking at the guys running at me and celebrating with them is the best feeling in the world.”

Kapasi was named the tournament’s most outstanding player, going 5-1 overall. 

“That’s a very special honor,” Kapasi said. “All of it comes down to the support I had from the other guys pushing me every day, trying to help me to be better and supporting me throughout the season.”

The tennis team’s first AAC title breaks an eight-year drought without a conference championship. As conference champions, the Owls get an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. The Owls will learn their tournament seed during the selection show April 28, giving them more than two weeks to prepare before the tournament begins May 15. 

Üstündağ believes the timing of this year’s tournament can benefit Rice.

“We get a little bit of a break in the sense that there’s one more week of school [remaining], so we can stay in our routine,” Üstündağ said. “Everybody’s already locked in and ready to go.”

Last year, Rice earned an at-large bid into the tournament but lost 4-0 in the opening round to Texas A&M University.

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