Men's tennis finds winning ways, downs TCU, Texas A&M

By Casey Michel     4/8/10 7:00pm

Just as spring turns, just as the baseball team revamps, so too does the men's tennis team. Two weeks ago, the season was in the dumps. But with a 5-2 thumping of then-No. 58 Texas Christian University March 27 and a to-the-limit 4-3 loss against No. 12 Texas A&M University four days later, the season now appears a bit rosier for the 42nd-ranked Owls (10-9). The turnaround took long enough to arrive, but it's not easy to see just what caused it. The team's losses have almost all been handy, with very few of the 4-3 heartbreakers the team ran into in 2009. And while there is a prominent number of underclassmen, with sophomores generally comprising two-thirds of the singles starting lineup, all of them gained hefty experience in their first-year campaigns. The team was simply sputtering, underperforming, losing one too many tiebreakers, double-faults and set points.

If there's one thing Rice can point to, it's that the teams it is currently facing are, if anything, easier to beat, at least according to the rankings. But every team is dangerous - after all, this is a Rice squad which downed a 12th-ranked Aggies squad last year by the same score, with the three clinching singles points all coming from Rice freshmen.

As such, just because the Horned Frogs (7-8) were lower in the rankings - right where the Owls stood a week before, out of the top 50 - they were just as potent as any of the squads Rice has struggled with this season. And it didn't take long for that to show.

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Rice's 62nd-ranked pair of sophomores Michael Nuesslein and Christian Saravia dropped at the top doubles spot to Emanuel Brighiu and Christopher Price 8-4. The Horned Frogs then clinched the doubles point at the number three position, with Paul Chappell and Zach Nichols outlasting senior Dennis Polyakov and junior Oscar Podlewski for a 9-7 win. For good measure, TCU also grabbed the number two position for the doubles sweep.

Down 1-0 early, Rice steadied itself as singles began. Podlewski found revenge to tie the match, and senior Bruno Rosa, ranked 34th in the nation, pushed Rice ahead with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Brighiu. With the lead firmly in hand, Rice ran to a 5-2 victory to give the team only its second win over a ranked opponent in its last eight tries.

Assistant Coach Efe Ustundag (Baker '99) said the win was well-fought, but that TCU's grit didn't wane with the match.

"It was a good win," Ustundag said. "It ended up being 5-2, but it could have very easily been 4-3 the other way around."

Still, there's something to be said about the rankings; it's not as if they're conjured out of thin air. And for the Aggies (18-4), their top-15 rank came primarily from the seven-match winning streak they were riding before facing Rice. The Owls' stable of freshmen pushed Rice to a remarkable 4-3 win against the then-12th-ranked Aggies last year, but, well, that was last year.

Podlewski and Polyakov drew first blood with an 8-6 win at the bottom of the doubles lineup. After Nuesslein and Saravia dropped against the fifth-ranked pair of Austin Krajicek and Jeff Dadamo, Rice's 51st-ranked tandem of Rosa and sophomore Isamu Tachibana clinched the doubles point with an 8-6 victory.

But the 1-0 lead would be Rice's last of the day. Despite victories from Saravia and Rosa - the senior gutted an impressive three-set win over Krajicek, ranked eighth in the country - the Aggies grabbed the middle four spots in the singles lineup to seal the 4-3 win.

"If you told me before the match we were going to win the doubles point and win at number one and then lose, I would have said you were nuts," Ustundag said. "Obviously, doubles isn't too much of a surprise, and neither is Bruno, but they're at their strongest at the number one position. . Unfortunately, we lost at some of the matches where I thought we had the better talent."

The loss may set the Owls back in the record book, but it should prepare them well for today's contest against the University of Tulsa, set for 1 p.m. at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium. The Golden Hurricane (14-6) has taken the Conference USA crown four years in a row - and at 31st in the nation, highest in the conference, it looks poised as favorite for a fifth.

Once Rice gets through Tulsa, the team will host the University of Oklahoma, currently ranked 21st but winner of only two of its last five. The match against the Sooners (14-4) poses Rice's best shot at a significant upset, something that has eluded the team all year.

"We've beaten every team we were supposed to beat," Ustundag said. "At some point, we've got to pull an upset if we want to solidify our chances of getting into the NCAA Tournament and also get some confidence going into the conference tournament.

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