Rain no deterrent for men's tennis in three-match sweep
After a season of more valleys than peaks, more struggles and strains than growth and gains, last weekend may have been a sign of changing times for the men's tennis team. Playing host at the 52nd Annual Rice Intercollegiate Tournament, the Owls (9-8) swept the three-match weekend to right a season that had wobbled to the brink. Before the weekend began, Assistant Coach Efe Ustundag (Baker '99) had said he wouldn't be pleased with anything but a sweep. With his wish granted, Ustundag was as satisfied as expected.
"It was a good weekend," he said. "If we can get that, week in and week out, we'll have a very strong end of the year."
But it's not merely the fact that Rice is now back over .500: The team's confidence, which had taken a severe hit, has rebounded.
"We're feeling really good," sophomore Sam Garforth-Bles said. "It was nice to get those three wins after a short storm. It definitely built our confidence up."
The wins could not have come at a better point for the Owls. The team came into the weekend having lost seven of its previous eight matches and dropped out of the top 50. But a weekend of wins bumped them up to No. 42 in the nation and set them with a healthy helping of momentum as the squad travels north to face No. 58 Texas Christian University tomorrow at 1 p.m. The Horned Frogs (6-5) began the year hot, but recent stumbles put their NCAA Tournament hopes in jeopardy.
After dealing with TCU, the Owls will drive to College Station, Texas, to take on Texas A&M University, currently 17th in the nation. Coming off of an impressive 7-0 slaughtering of then-No. 12 University of Louisville, the Aggies (11-4) will bring not only Rice's final shot at a win over a top-20 foe but also the No. 9 doubles tandem of Jeff Dadamo and Austin Krajicek, both of whom are also ranked in the top 30 in singles.
"The next two matches are going to be quite different than the three we played," Ustundag said. "I just hope we have the same fighting attitude as we did [this weekend] and really have that be the minimum effort for the rest of the year."
Rice's struggles this season have been mostly mental, but while the squad will have more than enough work to survive these next two matches, last weekend's wins should provide enough of a cushion of confidence to keep them honest. The tournament began with the team's first Conference USA action of the year, a 4-0 demolishing of Tulane University last Friday at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium. The Green Wave (3-9) are arguably the worst team in the conference, but they have a valid excuse - 2005's Hurricane Katrina wiped out the entire program until this season. Still, Rice's performance was remarkable: Had the play continued to the full seven-point slate, the team looked on pace for the 7-0 sweep.
The Owls' opponent the next day would not be quite so simple. Then- No. 36 North Carolina State University brought a full stable of talent, headlined by No. 94 Jaime Pulgar, and began the day with a victory in doubles.
However, Rice bounced in the singles lineup. Garforth-Bles and junior Oscar Podlewski earned impressive wins in the middle of the lineup, and senior Bruno Rosa, ranked 34th in the nation, downed Pulgar 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 at No. 1. With his team up 3-1, sophomore Michael Nuesslein wrapped up the Rice win with a three-set win over Dominic Hodgson to grant the team its second win on the weekend.
"I think the biggest thing was Bruno's unwillingness to lose," Ustundag said. "When he chooses to play at that level with that kind of desire, he's a really, really tough guy to beat."
But as mentioned before, two wins would not suffice for success this weekend. As such, Rice would measure its mettle in Sunday's contest with Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
The Islanders (6-12) made inroads at certain spots - at No. 1 doubles, for instance, the TAMU-CC pair of Dmitry Novikov and James Langford knocked off Rice's 45th-ranked duo of Nuesslein and fellow sophomore Christian Saravia. Yet Rice had too much talent, too much impetus and too many winners, and with a 4-0 shutout the weekend ended as the precise success the team was hoping for.
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