Rice University Men's Tennis

Ustundag assumed the reigns of the program in July on 2012 after being named as Ron Smarr's successor on November 10, 2011 after eight seasons under the Hall of Famer who retired as college tennis' career wins leader. In eight seasons as Smarr's assistant, Ustundag helped guide the Owls to seven top 50 rankings, seven NCAA berths and produced a qualifier for the NCAA singles championship six times. The Owls also have racked up 29 All-Conference honors during Ustundag's tenure. A doubles All-America selection at Rice, Ustundag also anchored the Owls singles lineup during his final three seasons and maintained a national NCAA ranking as high as 16th. He was the MVP at the 1996 Team Championships in San Diego. Ustundag followed that up with Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Scholar Athlete of the Year and Tennis Magazine's Arthur Ashe Jr. Award for sportsmanship and leadership in 1999. He was an All-WAC Singles First-Team selection and All-WAC Doubles Second-Team honoree en route to NCAA Region VI Senior Player of the Year. He began his coaching career in 2002, serving for two seasons at Texas Tech as an assistant coach and helping lead the Red Raiders advanced to Big 12 Semifinals in 2003. Ustundag spent two years as a professional player and assistant coach for Enka Tennis Club in his native Turkey. He assisted Ali Gorec, the former Turkish Davis Cup coach, in various administrative and coaching duties. Ustundag won the national championship in both singles and doubles during 2000, while capturing the national indoor championship in both events in 2001. He also was a member of the Turkish Davis Cup team from 1997 to 2001. Before attending Rice, Ustundag attended the famous Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida from 1990-93. He was awarded the NBTA Grand Slam award for academics, citizenship and athletics in 1992. Ustundag graduated from Rice in 1999 with a bachelor's degree in managerial studies and sports management. He makes his home in Houston with wife Suur Biliciler-Ustundag and daughter Ahenk (3). 10/08/2016 - Tommy Bennett and David Warren wasted little time in advancing to the semifinals of the main draw consolation round at the 2016 Saint Francis... 10/07/2016 - Tommy Bennett and David Warren advance to the quarterfinals of the main draw consolation round at the 2016 Saint Francis Health System ITA Men's... 10/06/2016 - Tommy Bennett and David Warren dropped their opening match in the main draw doubles competition at the 2016 Saint Francis Health System ITA Men's... 10/04/2016 - Tommy Bennett and David Warren, currently ranked eighth nationally in doubles, will turn their attention that event after dropping their second... 10/03/2016 - Tommy Bennett and David Warren each picked up impressive singles wins to highlight play in the qualifying round of the 2016 Saint Francis Health... 10/02/2016 - Freshman Gerardo closed out a successful weekend at the Rice Invitational by winning his final match on Sunday to close out a 10-7 weekend for the ... 09/30/2016 - Freshman Gerardo Penchyna picked up a pair of singles wins to highlight action for Rice in the first day of the Rice Mens Tennis Fall... 09/19/2016 - The Rice mens tennis team opened its 2016 Fall schedule by grabbing individual titles in a pair of tournaments over the weekend.

Szumanski played collegiately at Texas Tech. Playing primarily at both No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles, Szumanski is the Red Raiders' career wins leader in singles (90) and doubles (61), while qualifying for the NCAA Singles Championships three times (2005, 07-08) and the NCAA doubles twice (2007-08). The Red Raiders reached the tournament as a team in 2005, 2007 and 2008, advancing past the first round in both 2005 (round of 16) and 2008 (second round). Szumanski earned multiple honors during his collegiate career as a three-time All-Big 12 singles honoree and two-time All-Big 12 doubles honoree. He was also an ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America At-Large Third Team selection in both 2005 and 2008, while making the Academic All-District VI First Team three times. Szumanski was nationally ranked in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association throughout his career, reaching a high of No. 2 in doubles and No. 12 in singles. A three-time Academic All-Big 12 selection, Szumanski graduated from Texas Tech summa cum laude with a 3.93 grade point average and bachelor of science degree in personal financial planning in 2008. Szumanski played professional tennis on both the ATP and ITF circuits after completing his college career. In 2009, he reached career highs of No. 574 in doubles and No. 905 in singles on the ATP Tour. He won the ITF Futures Poland F7 in doubles in 2008 and was a runner-up at ITF Futures in Romania (August 2008) and Mansfield, Texas (Oct. 2008). He won the Polish National Indoor Championship in doubles in 2010 and Polish National Team Championship from 2009-12, while also playing No. 1 for TCM Markwasen in Germany from 2009-11. While playing on the ATP, Szumanski was been a hitting partner for top ATP and WTA players including Max Mirnyi, Ivo Karlovic, Xavier Malisse, Jelena Jankovic and Nicole Vaidisova. 10/09/2016 - After grinding out a rugged semifinal win early in the day, Tommy Bennett and David Warren downed the top-ranked doubles team in the country in... 10/08/2016 - Tommy Bennett and David Warren wasted little time in advancing to the semifinals of the main draw consolation round at the 2016 Saint Francis... 10/07/2016 - Tommy Bennett and David Warren advance to the quarterfinals of the main draw consolation round at the 2016 Saint Francis Health System ITA Men's... 10/06/2016 - Tommy Bennett and David Warren dropped their opening match in the main draw doubles competition at the 2016 Saint Francis Health System ITA Men's... 10/04/2016 - Tommy Bennett and David Warren, currently ranked eighth nationally in doubles, will turn their attention that event after dropping their second... 10/03/2016 - Tommy Bennett and David Warren each picked up impressive singles wins to highlight play in the qualifying round of the 2016 Saint Francis Health... 10/02/2016 - Freshman Gerardo closed out a successful weekend at the Rice Invitational by winning his final match on Sunday to close out a 10-7 weekend for the ... 09/30/2016 - Freshman Gerardo Penchyna picked up a pair of singles wins to highlight action for Rice in the first day of the Rice Mens Tennis Fall...