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March 24, 2006 > Sports > Men’s tennis wins four straight matches

Men’s tennis wins four straight matches

Owls host two ranked teams at Rice Invitational this weekend

By Dylan Farmer | Thresher Editorial Staff

After suffering its fourth loss in five matches two weeks ago to Florida State, the men’s tennis team rebounded, winning four straight matches to improve its record to 9-5 on the year. The Owls defeated 46th-ranked University of Minnesota at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium March 11 before heading to San Diego to best Montana State University, Gonzaga University and 36th-ranked University of San Diego.

This weekend, the 47th-ranked Owls will face 37th-ranked Texas Tech University, 73rd-ranked Purdue University and the University of South Florida at the Hyatt Regency Downtown/Rice Invitational, where they hope to step three wins closer to an NCAA tournament berth.

Texas Tech has defeated three top-60 teams en route to a 9-4 record, including a win over 38th-ranked Middle Tennessee State, which defeated Rice 5-2 Feb. 25. However, the Red Raiders also lost to the same San Diego team the Owls defeated Friday.

“Tech will be the team to beat,” assistant coach Efe Ustundag (Baker ‘99) said. “South Florida has talent in their top two players, but other than that they’ve struggled. We should do all right against them and Purdue.”

Ustundag said he thinks the team will be driven by its three seniors — 35th-ranked Robert Searle, Tony Haerle and Rodrigo Gabriel.

“I think the senior leadership will help tremendously,” Ustundag said. “It’s starting to sink in that they’re nearing the end, but I think it’s affecting them positively. They’re taking care of things both on and off the court with more professionalism, and that’s helping the team.”

Both Searle and Haerle were undefeated during the Owls’ four-match winning streak, and the 50th-ranked doubles tandem they lost only one of their four doubles matches — by a close 8-6 score to San Diego’s 19th-ranked Pierrick Ysern and Thomas Liversage.

“Rob and Tony were up 6-3 in that doubles match and just ended up losing,” Ustundag said. “But they didn’t give it away. They played a solid match — the other team just played a little bit better.”

Against Minnesota, the Owls opened the day with a quick win at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles to secure the doubles point. Searle, Haerle and Gabriel secured the team victory with straight-set singles wins, and sophomore Ralph Knupfer added a three-set victory to give Rice the 5-2 dual match win.

In San Diego, the Owls again opened play — this time against Montana State — with a quick doubles-point victory. Searle and Haerle defeated the Bobcats’ Marek Gebicki and Kyle McDonald decisively at No. 1, and freshman Christoph Muller teamed with Knupfer to add another victory at No. 3. Searle, Haerle and Muller won at the first, third and fourth spots, respectively, and junior Jason Mok added another victory at No. 6.

The Owls returned that evening to sweep Gonzaga 7-0. The Bulldogs did not win any sets in either singles or doubles, and the highlight of the match was Knupfer and Muller’s 8-0 victory at No. 3 doubles.

Two days later, the Owls posted their biggest victory of the week, upsetting San Diego 5-2. In doubles, Knupfer teamed with sophomore Filip Zivojinovic for a victory at No. 2 and the doubles point despite Searle and Haerle’s loss at No. 1. Searle then started off singles with a 7-6, 6-2 victory over Ysern. Knupfer, Hearle and Zivojinovic took wins at the third, fourth and fifth spots to round out the scoring for the Owls.

Hearle attributes the team’s recent success to a change in attitude.

“We started to come together when we played Florida State, even though we lost,” Haerle said. “They went on to defeat [a top-10 team], and we know we can beat those types of teams because we should have beaten them. Since then, everybody’s been fighting hard through all the matches, and that’s what’s made the difference.”

Fielding their full roster of players also helped the Owls, something they have not been able to do consistently throughout the season.

“San Diego was the first match that we’ve had everyone together and healthy since the season started,” head coach Ron Smarr said. “And that made it a very good win.”

End of article

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