The Rice Thresher, Vol. 96, No. 21, Ed. 1 Friday, February 27, 2009 Page: 17 of 20
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Friday, February 27,2009
the Rice Thresher
SPORTS 17
Men continue struggles against ranked opponents
m
Junior Chong Wang's play has not helped Rice's recent road woes. The powerful righty has lost five straight
matches. The Owls will looks to regain their momentum against San Diego on Mar. 3.
t
/
IIW I Kim WW Bib •
by Casey Michel
Thresher Editorial Staff
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 miss-
ing, 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 ap-
pears. 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 differ-
ent 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.
But for whatever reason, the Owls
have recently gone without that extra
ingredient needed to put them over
the top.
Assistant coach Efe Ustundag
(Bak^r '99) said he thought the miss-
ing 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 convinc-
ing fashion. After Florida State's
Jean-Yves Aubone and Vahid Mirza-
deh knocked off Rice's 45th-ranked
duo of senior Christoph Miiller 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 Miil-
ler downed No. 19 Aubone 6-3, 6-0
at the top of the ladder. The win ran
Miiller'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 after-
noon. Junior Bruno Rosa, ranked
28th in the nation, suffered his sec-
ond 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.
it
We had absolutely no
business in winning
the doubles point at
Florida State [but]
a couple of the guys
stepped up and car-
ried their partners.
Unfortunately, we
can't sub somebody in
at singles to give them
that boost.
Efe Ustundag
Assistant coach
W
For Ustundag, the sheen of the sol-
id 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 Flor-
ida State [but] a couple of the guys
stepped up and carried their part-
ners," 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 Uni-
versity 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."
" I •
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Michel, Casey. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 96, No. 21, Ed. 1 Friday, February 27, 2009, newspaper, February 27, 2009; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443030/m1/17/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.