Oklahoma proves to be no-win land for men's tennis

By Dan Elledge     4/14/11 7:00pm

The talent level of the opposition keeps increasing, as the Owls have dropped four matches in a row against ranked opponents after they were swept in Oklahoma this weekend by conference rival, the 35th-ranked University of Tulsa (15-6, 6-0 C-USA) and the 26th-ranked University of Oklahoma.

At Tulsa, the Owls played a fairly competitive match as they lost 5-2 to the Golden Hurricane. As usual of late, the Owls could not gain the doubles point, as juniors Sam Garforth-Bles and Christian Saravia were the only pair to win their doubles match, 8-3. Junior Michael Nuesslein and sophomore Peter Frank along with sophomore Harry Fowler and senior Oscar Podlewski dropped their respective matches to nationally-ranked Tulsa double pairings.

The singles matches brought drama as five of the six matches went to three sets. The only exception was Nuesslein, who dropped his match in two sets. However, the Owls could only win two of the five final sets, as Saravia and Frank recorded wins. Fowler and Podlewski dropped their third sets, 6-4 respectively along with Garforth-Bles, who had a tough 6-1 loss in his final set. The Owls could not pull out the third sets when they needed to and dropped their first conference match all season.

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Assistant Coach Efe Ustundag saw that the Owls had opportunities to push Tulsa and win the match, as he felt that the loss of the doubles point put Rice at too steep of a hill to climb to get back in the match.

"Against Tulsa, it was just a good college match," Ustundag said. "If we could have won the doubles point in the beginning, I really do think it could of changed everything and tilted the match in our favor."

In the Oklahoma match, it was a different story, as the Owls lost 6-1 to the Sooners, as the stats tell the story. The only similarity from the Tulsa match was that again Rice had a good opportunity to win the doubles point, as this time Fowler and Podlewski won the solo doubles match. Frank and Nuesslein along with Saravia and Garforth-Bles dropped their respective doubles matches to help give the Sooners a crucial 1-0 advantage.

The difference came in singles for the Owls, as only one match went to three sets, with Podlewski recording a victory only because he was ahead in the third set when the match point was clinched for OU. In the rest of the matches, no Rice player won a set, as only one player won more than three games in any particular set besides Podlewski. It was another rough loss for Rice, as they dropped their fourth in a row in one of their worst losses of the season.

Podlewski summed it up by saying there was no other reason why they lost except that Oklahoma played better and deserved the victory.

"We were outperformed, as we have no more excuses for our losses," Podlewski said. "We could have won the doubles point, but after that, I can't even explain to you what happened. Everything went downhill."

The Owls are now 13-8 and 3-1 in Conference USA play and are ranked 39th in the nation and are now in danger of missing the NCAA tournament after eight consecutive appearances. The Owls have two more home matches against Southern Methodist University tomorrow and against the University of Texas-Arlington on Sunday. No. 61 SMU has a 16-5 record on the season, as they have won their last 13 of 14 matches. UT-Arlington is 10-7 on the year.

With four losses in a row, Ustundag is concerned that the Owls might be slipping out of contention for an NCAA at-large berth, as he feels that Rice needs to have a solid stretch to make sure that they are in.

Ustundag believes that when it comes to the conference tournament, anyone can win, as results from the regular season don't apply.

"Our prior results go out the window going into the C-USA tournament, as we just have to play good for a three-day stretch to win and get in the NCAA tournament," Ustundag said.

With the last weekend of regular-season play at home, this will be the last home match of the year for the Owls and for Podlewski, who will be graduating as a senior this year. Before the match on Sunday against UT-Arlington, there will be a ceremony to commemorate Podlewski's years as an Owl.

Podlewski has mixed feelings about his last match, as all he wants is a win and to go into the conference tournament on a high note.

"I am excited for the senior day, but at the same time, I hope everyone gives it their best and puts forth a good effort," Podlewski said. "That would be their present to me."

Podlewski thinks that this is nowhere near the end for the Owls, as they hope this weekend can help spark another run in the conference tournament, which will hopefully be an NCAA tournament that will be worth remembering.

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