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January 26, 2007 > Sports > Men’s tennis wins first spring dual match 4-1

Men’s tennis wins first spring dual match 4-1

By Casey Michel | Thresher Editorial Staff

Facing the stiffest competition they have seen all year, the men’s tennis team managed a respectable showing at last weekend’s Rice University/Downtown Club at the Met Collegiate Indoor Invitational, sending three doubles teams to the quarterfinals or higher of their respective draws. The Owls followed that performance with a 4-1 victory over the University of Texas-San Antonio in their first dual match of the year.

Rice will face Michigan State Sunday at the Met at 11:00 a.m. in the first of two dual matches this weekend. The Spartans are 4-0 in dual matches but have yet to play any team ranked in the top-100. However, they face 20th-ranked Texas A&M University today. The Owls will play immediately Lamar University following the contest against Michigan State, a team Rice handily beat 6-1 in last year’s match-up.

Last weekend’s tournament featured four teams in the top 30 besides the 28th-ranked Owls, including 2nd-ranked Baylor University and 3rd-ranked Ohio State University. Eleven of the top 70 individuals in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association competed. Senior Ben Harknett, ranked 50th, had to sit out the tournament because of a hamstring injury.

“Our schedule is very tough,” assistant coach Efe Ustundag (Baker ‘99) said. “[The tournament] gave the guys a pretty good idea about what’s out there.”

The Owls’ best showings came in doubles. Junior Filip Zivojinovic and freshman Dennis Polyakov nearly won their B-flight draw, losing in the finals. They easily won their first two matches, and after dismissing Gera Boryachinskiy and Kevin Fleck of Clemson 8-5 in the semifinals, the pair faced Ben Althaus and Nejc Smole of Denver in the championship. After falling behind 4-1, Zivojinovic and Polyakov were able to rally to tie it up 7-7, only to drop the last two games and lose 9-7.

As for the other Rice doubles pairings, junior Ralph Knupfer and sophomore Tobias Scheil made the semifinals of the Flight A doubles draw. They handily defeated Jarmaine Jenkins and Paul Koenke of Clemson 8-4 but had to stop their run as injuries forced Scheil to withdraw. Despite their premature exit, Ustundag said he was pleased with their improvement.

“Ralph and Toby played maybe a couple of matches [during the fall season] that didn’t get great results,” he said. “I thought this tournament was a bit of a breakthrough for them.”

The biggest upset of the tournament occurred on the first day, as the tandem of senior Jason Mok and freshman Christoph Mueller were able to hold off Baylor

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