Men's Tennis: Rice Edged By Texas, 4-3
5/13/2005
WACO ? In the first round of the 2005 NCAA Men's Tennis Championnships, Rice lost a close battle with Texas in a 4-3 decision on Friday in Waco.
Junior Robert Searle and sophomore Ben Harknett struck first for the Owls in doubles, upsetting the 60th-ranked tandem of Callum Beale and Travis Helgeson 8-5 at the top spot. The Longhorns rebounded to take wins at two and three and earn the first point of the day.
Freshman Ralph Knupfer evened the score for Rice with a 6-2, 6-4 win at number five against Luis Diaz Barriga. Texas jumped back into the lead with wins at four and two to go up 3-1. The Owls fought back as Harknett swept Roger Gubser 6-2, 7-6. Freshman Hooney Shin then rallied from a set back to beat Garrett Snyder 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 at number six to tie the team score at 3-3, before the Longhorns snared the win with a victory at the top spot.
With the loss, the Owls end the season at 15-10. While the team's season is over, Searle will continue competing starting on May 21 in the NCAA singles championships.
Results
No. 29 Texas 4, No. 37 Rice 3
Doubles
1) Harknett/Searle (RU) def. No. 60 Beale/Helgeson (UT), 8-5
2) Chodkiewicz/Gubser (UT) def. Haerle/Gabriel (RU), 8-5
3) Barriga/Snyder (UT) def.Knupfer/Zivojinovic (RU), 8-5
Singles
1) No. 48 Callum Beale (UT) def. No. 41 Robert Searle (RU), 6-3, 6-7, 6-3
2) No. 66 Travis Helgeson (UT) def. Tony Haerle (RU), 7-5, 6-4
3) Ben Harknett (RU) def. No. 88 Roger Gubser (UT), 6-2, 7-6
4) Milan Mihailovic (UT) def. Filip Zivojinovic (RU), 6-2, 1-6, 6-0
5) Ralph Knupfer (RU) def. Luis Diaz Barriga (UT), 6-2, 6-4
6) Hooney Shin (RU) def. Garrett Snyder (UT) 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
