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October 26, 2007 > Sports > Men’s tennis concludes fall schedule in Austin

Men’s tennis concludes fall schedule in Austin

By Casey Michel | Thresher Editorial Staff

The men’s tennis team wrapped up its competitive fall schedule last weekend, performing well in the ITA South Central Regional Championship in Austin, Texas. Rice advanced deep into the tournament in both singles and doubles before heading home this weekend for a three-month hiatus. The Rice Reunion Classic, a friendly tournament involving alumni, will be held Nov. 3 at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium.

The Owls came sprinting out of the gate last Saturday, taking nearly all of their matches on the first day of competition. In singles, junior Christoph Mueller and senior Ralph Knupfer easily disposed of their foes, both from University of Texas, in the opening round.

Sophomore Chong Wang also won his opening match, downing Texas Christian University’s Casey Powers in straight sets. Senior Filip Zivojinovic and freshman Vishnu Rajam got first-round byes, although Rajam fell in three sets to Texas A&M University’s Chris Chirico.

The only Owls to lose in the opening round were senior Hoony Shin and sophomore Dennis Polyakov.

The Owls were just as successful in doubles. After an opening round bye, the third-seeded tandem of Mueller and Knupfer won 8-2, while Wang and Zivojinovic paired to hold on for two 8-6 victories to earn a spot in the Round of 16. The duo of Polyakov and Shin also earned an 8-5 win after a first-round bye.

However, Sunday opposition nullified any momentum accrued from the first day. Once the day was over, Mueller was the only Owl left standing in singles. He swept Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s Jose Zunino 6-2, 6-1, before trouncing top-seed Bojan Szumanski of Texas Tech University 6-3, 6-3.

Zivojinovic could not hold on against Texas’ Kellen Damico, dropping a 6-3, 6-2 decision. Knupfer and Wang also lost in straight sets.

Doubles struggled alongside singles, as two of the three pairs were eliminated. Wang and Zivojinovic battled with TAMU-CC’s Dmitry Novikov and Mike Pavlov to an 8-8 stalemate before dropping the tiebreaker 7-5. Polyakov and Shin did not even get that far, losing 8-4 to Baylor University’s Matt Brown and Jordan Rux.

Mueller and Knupfer were the only pair to notch a win, winning 8-3 to face Novikov and Pavlov in the quarterfinals.

While the Owls were still represented in the quarterfinals, assistant coach Efe Ustundag (Baker ‘99) said he thought others had opportunities to advance.

“We battled well, had quite a few opportunities that we couldn’t take advantage of,” Ustundag said. “We just weren’t clutch enough to bring it home.”

After waiting out an early-morning rainstorm the next day, Mueller and Knupfer gutted out a 9-8 nail-biter over Novikov and Pavlov. With the score knotted at 8-8, the duo found themselves facing a 5-1 deficit in the tiebreaker. But they did not give in, rattling off six straight points to win the tiebreaker 7-5.

In singles, Mueller’s quest for a title ended at the hands of Damico. Mueller struggled early, dropping the first set 6-0 in only 25 minutes before storming back to take the second set 6-4. But Damico slammed the door in the final set, winning 6-1.

“Even though Christoph got to the quarterfinals, I thought his performance was a little bit below par,” Ustundag said. “[Damico] was a terrific player — he hadn’t lost a match this entire fall until that tournament. But for Christoph to lose those two sets 6-0, 6-1, it wasn’t quite the level of play that he was capable of playing.”

Rounding out the tournament, Knupfer and Mueller fell 8-5 to Michael Breler and Sinisa Markovic of Texas Tech in the doubles semifinals.

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