Men’s tennis loses two home matches
The men’s tennis team dropped both of its dual matches last weekend, falling to 27th-ranked Oklahoma State University Friday at the Downtown Met and to 24th-ranked University of Miami Sunday at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium.
The 40th-ranked Owls have now lost three of their last four matches, all against ranked opponents, and their schedule does not get easier. Rice’s next three matches are on the road against 35th-ranked University of Louisiana-Lafayette, 39th-ranked Middle Tennessee State University and 37th-ranked Vanderbilt University.
La.-Lafayette, the Owls’ only opponent this weekend, has a 4-1 record, with its only loss coming to fifth-ranked University of Mississippi. The Cajuns have wins against both 75th-ranked University of Oregon and 38th-ranked Florida State University.
Last Friday, the Owls took advantage of early Oklahoma State mistakes. The 37th-ranked senior duo of Robert Searle and Tony Haerle ensured the Owls a doubles- point victory with a 9-7 win at the first position. In singles, junior Ben Harknett held off a second-set rally to defeat his opponent at the second spot, and sophomore Ralph Knupfer won in straight sets at the third position.
However, the rest of the Owls’ matches resulted in decidedly worse outcomes. Searle, ranked 36th nationally in singles, was swept by 27th-ranked Daniel Byrnes at No. 1, and Hearle and sophomore Filip Zivojinovic lost in straight sets at the fourth and fifth spots, respectively. At No. 6, the Cowboys secured their match victory when junior Jason Mok lost the first set and could not recover, losing to Olexsander Kotsuik in three sets.
“As a team, we didn’t play badly,” assistant coach Efe Ustundag (Baker ‘99) said. “[Oklahoma State] just outplayed us.”
On Sunday, the Owls began the day lethargically. Harknett and freshman Christoph Mueller lost 8-0 at No. 3 doubles, and shortly afterward, Knupfer and Zivojinovic lost 9-7 at the second spot. Searle and Haerle provided a bright spot, winning their match at the top spot.
“When it came down to it, we just got out-fought,” Ustundag said. “We had a chance to win the doubles point [on serve], and we couldn’t come through [with a victory].”
The Hurricanes carried their momentum to singles and never relinquished it. Searle lost a hard-fought match to the Hurricanes’ 25th-ranked Luigi D’Agord, fighting back from a first-set loss before falling in a third-set super-tiebreak. At No. 2, 87th-ranked Josh Cohen defeated Harknett in straight sets, and Knupfer’s opponent retired after losing the first set at No. 3.
In the bottom half of the lineup, Haerle lost his super-tiebreak 11-9, and Zivojinovic and senior Rodrigo Gabriel fell in straight sets at the fifth and sixth positions, respectively.
“It’s just a matter of us not letting teams get off to good starts and forcing us to play catch-up,” Ustundag said. “We’re making it difficult on ourselves in both doubles and singles.”
Ustundag also stressed the importance of focusing on the upcoming matches.
“We have to bounce back from those losses,” he said. “We have to really want to fight it out, to do the work that’s necessary for us to win on the road.”
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