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May 19, 2006 > Sports > Injury-plagued Rice falls to Texas

Injury-plagued Rice falls to Texas

By Dylan Farmer | Thresher

After falling 4-1 to the University of Tulsa in the championship match of the Conference USA tournament, the men’s tennis team came back with a 4-1 win over the University of Louisiana-Lafayette Saturday and seemed poised for a run deep into the postseason. However, for the third time in four years, the University of Texas ended those hopes, crushing the Owls 4-0 in a weather-delayed match that spanned more than six hours in Austin Sunday.

Despite playing without 28th-ranked senior Robert Searle, who was suffering from a foot injury, the Owls dominated the match against Louisiana-Lafayette. Senior Tony Haerle and junior Jason Mok started the scoring for the Owls, taking an 8-4 victory at No. 3 doubles. The Ragin’ Cajuns grabbed a 7-4 lead over junior Ben Harknett and freshman Christoph Muller at No. 2, but sophomores Ralph Knupfer and Filip Zivojinovic clinched the doubles point with an 8-4 victory at the first position.

In singles, Rice was just as resilient, allowing Louisiana-Lafayette only three set wins out of ten played. Zivojinovic provided the first singles victory at No. 4, cruising to a 6-3, 6-4 win over Dusan Tabak. Mok followed at No. 6, easily handling Matt Turong 6-2, 6-0. However, Amanjot Singh struck back for the Cajuns, defeating Harknett — who replaced the injured Searle — in straight sets at No. 1. With the score 3-1, Muller pulled out a tight 7-5, 7-5 victory at No. 5 to secure the dual match.

“This was a good win,” head coach Ron Smarr said. “Rob [Searle] didn’t play, and Ralph [Knupfer] wasn’t 100 percent, so considering we won the match 4-1 the way we did, I was very pleased.”

Sunday’s match against Texas started under cloudy skies, but before the match was delayed the first time by lightning, the Longhorns took the doubles point. Travis Helgeson and Luis Barriga defeated Mok and Haerle 8-5 at No. 3, and before the 29th-ranked duo of Callum Beale and Miguel Reyes Varela could complete their victory over Knupfer and Zivojinovic at No. 1, Texas had already won the point with an 8-6 win at No. 2.

“We had our chances in those doubles matches,” Smarr said. “We just didn’t play well to finish out the matches.”

Before last weekend, the Owls had only lost the doubles point five times the entire year, but only in one of those dual matches did the Owls come back to win. That record haunted them, as Texas swept three straight singles matches amid scattered rain delays to take the dual match 4-0. 35th-ranked Roger Gubser made quick work of 79th-ranked Knupfer at No. 2, allowing him just two game wins in a 6-2, 6-0 victory. Zivojinovic followed with a straight set loss at No. 4, and Mok fell 6-4, 6-1 at No. 6. Although Harknett seemed to be making a comeback at the first position, when Texas clinched the win, the Owls had failed to win a single set.

“Texas is a very legitimate number three team,” Smarr said. “They’re a tough team to beat as it is, and even more so when we’re not completely healthy.”

Rice, which at one point was 5-5, finished the season at 19-8. Although the team is done for the year, Searle and Haerle — ranked 18th — won a bid to the NCAA doubles tournament. Smarr said Searle is planning to play barring any further injuries. Searle also received a bid to the singles tournament — his fourth straight — but he will decide whether to participate on May 23rd, the day the draw is released.

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