Men continue struggles against ranked opponents

By Casey Michel     2/26/09 6:00pm

There is something out there that will help the men's tennis team beat a ranked foe. The Owls had it, whatever it was, during early-season wins over then-No. 17 University of Miami and then-No. 33 Texas Christian University. But for the last three weeks, that unknown, unnamed and unfaithful something-or-other has gone missing, in the process putting Rice on the wrong side of four of its last five matches. With last Sunday's road loss to No. 16 Florida State University, the 26th-ranked Owls have now dropped to 8-4 on the year, and what once seemed like a promising season has come to a grinding halt.

At least, that is the way it appears. Although the contests have lately swung opponents' way, all but one of Rice's defeats came by the slimmest of margins. Had a single point fallen in the team's favor in the losses against Florida State, then- No. 17 Louisiana State University or then-No. 37 University of Kentucky, Rice could be looking at its current seven-week road streak in a different light. Even their 4-1 loss to then- 27th-ranked Wake Forest University on Jan. 31 was close, as the final two matches would probably have gone the Owls' way.

Plus, the team can win on the road, as evidenced by last month's 4-3 squeak-by of Miami and Friday's 5-2 win against No. 72 Furman University.

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But for whatever reason, the Owls have recently gone without that extra ingredient needed to put them over the top.

Assistant coach Efe Ustundag (Baker '99) said he thought the missing component was the tenacity that comes with mental fortitude.

"It looks like some of the time, when we're up, we are hoping that the opponent is the one who makes the mistakes," Ustundag said. "We don't have the courage to go after them, and we're afraid to do what we have to do to put them away."

Nowhere was this inability more evident than in the Owls' contest with the Seminoles. In doubles, Rice started the match in convincing fashion. After Florida State's Jean-Yves Aubone and Vahid Mirzadeh knocked off Rice's 45th-ranked duo of senior Christoph Müller and Toby Scheil, the Owls bounced back with a pair of wins in the two remaining slots.

The Seminoles bounced back in singles and Mirzadeh once again bested Scheil, but in the weekend's most impressive match, No. 43 Müller downed No. 19 Aubone 6-3, 6-0 at the top of the ladder. The win ran Müller's record to 11-0, and for the second time in four weeks the senior earned Conference USA Player of the Week honors.

However, this would be the last lead Rice would hold on the afternoon. Junior Bruno Rosa, ranked 28th in the nation, suffered his second loss of the weekend against No. 55 Clint Bowles, and classmate Chong Wang, who had dropped four straight matches, extended his losing streak with a 7-5, 6-4 defeat against Maciek Sykut.

Chris Cloer then ended Rice's shot at a come-from-behind victory with a three-set win over freshman Sam Garforth-Bles, and Rice was forced to limp home with a 4-3 loss.

For Ustundag, the sheen of the solid doubles win was dulled by the lack of focus shown in the singles set.

"We had absolutely no business in winning the doubles point at Florida State [but] a couple of the guys stepped up and carried their partners," he said. "Unfortunately, we can't sub somebody in at singles to give them that boost."

Rice will now get a bit of a break, going nine days before its next road contest with the 53rd-ranked University of San Diego. The Toreros are struggling just as mightily as the Owls, having lost five of their last seven.

But despite the lower ranking, Ustundag knows that the Toreros will provide a test, and that his team needs to regroup if they are to stand a chance at a victory.

"I don't know if there's one trick that all of a sudden turns us around," Ustundag said. "It's time for the boys to step up.

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