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February 23, 2007 > Sports > Harknett continues dominance over ranked opponents

Harknett continues dominance over ranked opponents

Owls fall to No. 43 Texas Tech and No. 20 Louisiana State University in final sets, face No. 18 Texas tomorrow

By Casey Michel | Thresher Editorial Staff

Early deficits proved too much for the men’s tennis team to overcome as they fell to No. 43 Texas Tech and No. 20 Louisiana State University 4-3 last week. The Owls, who dropped five spots in the polls to No. 35, nearly pulled off impressive comebacks against their opponents but dropped the final singles matches.

Rice will travel to Austin to face No. 18 University of Texas on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. The Owls last squared off with the Longhorns in the regular season 0n April 12, 2006. Rice earned one of the team’s most stunning upsets, knocking off then-No. 3 UT 5-2. In singles, senior Ben Harknett and junior Ralph Knupfer, both unranked, swept their ranked opponents, putting the clinching match in the hands of Robert Searle (Will Rice, ‘06). Searle twice battled back from deficits of 5-1 against No. 7 Travis Helgeson and won the final six points of the tiebreaker to secure the win for Rice.

The Owls opened strong against the Red Raiders Saturday, taking two of three in doubles. Knupfer and sophomore Tobias Scheil got the Owls rolling with an 8-4 victory at No. 1, and senior Jason Mok and sophomore Christoph Mueller sealed the doubles point with an 8-6 win at No. 2.

Texas Tech rebounded in singles, knotting up the score 1-1 before then-No. 50 Harknett started his match. Beating his third consecutive ranked opponent, Harknett cruised past 12th-ranked Bojan Szumanski at No. 1, earning his fourth consecutive victory since returning from injury. Following the match, Harknett jumped up to 30th in the country in the ITA/Fila national rankings.

Assistant coach Efe Ustundag (Baker ‘99) said that he thinks Harknett is finally reaching his potential.

“His level [of play] is as good as or even better than the top players in the country,” Ustundag said. “And he is willing to compete a lot more, to grind out each match. As he has matured, he has become a lot more resilient on the tennis court, and his game has become a lot more complete.”

Unfortunately, Rice could not maintain its lead for very long. The Red Raiders won the first set of all the remaining three singles matches, and while the Owls were able to battle back to take the second sets, Texas Tech held on to take the dual-match 4-3. In the final match of the day, Mok rallied to win the second set against Michael Breler, but fell just short, losing 6-3, 6-7 (4), 7-5.

While Rice could not quite pull out a victory, Ustundag said he thought his team performed well under pressure.

“The guys fought very hard to get back into the match and force the three sets,” Ustundag said.”But we ended up just being a little bit short. We didn’t necessarily play well, but the best we [coaches] can ask is that [they] fight in every match, which is what I think [they] did.”

The Owls continued with their tough road trip against the Tigers last Tuesday in Baton Rouge, Louis. LSU did well in doubles behind the tandem of James Cluskey and Ken Skupski, ranked third in the country. Although Harknett and junior Filip Zivojinovic were able to hold off their opponents at No. 3, Rice was unable to muster enough energy to contend with the Tigers, dropping the doubles point.

The Owls continued their slide in singles, losing the first two matches and falling behind 3-0. However, Harknett made sure Rice would at least get on the board, knocking off his fourth ranked opponent of the season, No. 9 Skupski, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. The Owls continued their momentum with wins by Mok and Mueller, tying the score 3-3. In the final match of the day, Paroci went ahead early against LSU’s Colt Gaston. But after losing the tiebreaker in the second set, Paroci could not hang on in the third, falling 4-6, 7-6 (1), 6-4.

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