Rice University
Texas
Searle, Rice Stun #3 Texas
4/12/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 12, 2006
HOUSTON -- Rice senior Robert Searle celebrated senior day in magnificent style, battling leg cramps and rallying from big deficits for his 100th-career singles victory and the team clincher as the Owls stunned third-ranked Texas 5-2 on Wednesday at the Jake Hess Tennis Stadium.
Facing the seventh-ranked player in the country, Searle jumped out to an early lead before the Longhorns' Travis Helgeson fought back to win the first-set tiebreaker. Searle rebounded in the second to force a third frame as his legs began to cramp. Helgeson responded for Texas by charging out to a 5-1 lead and seemed to have control of the match. But Searle refused to give up with his team holding a tentative 3-2 lead.
Searle began chipping away at Helgeson's lead, twice fighting off double-match points to knot the score at 5-5. Helgeson went ahead 6-5, but Searle tied the score again to force another tiebreak. The Owl appeared to run out of gas as the Longhorn jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the tiebreak. But once again Searle battled back, winning six-straight points to claim the individual and team victories with a thrilling 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (5) win.
Junior Ben Harknett and sophomore Ralph Knupfer helped put Searle in a position to secure the team victory as both Owls swept their singles matches against ranked foes. Playing at number two, Harknett recovered from an early 3-0 deficit to beat 36th-ranked Roger Gubser 6-3, 6-3. Texas tied the team score at 2-2 with wins at four and five singles. Then Knupfer, who was also battling leg cramps, held on for a 6-4, 6-3 victory against 39th-ranked Callum Beale at the three position with Searle and freshman Christoph Müller still playing.
Müller scored Rice's final point of the day, beating Michael Venus 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-4 at number six singles.
The Owls began the day by winning two of three in doubles to take the first point. Searle and classmate Tony Haerle, ranked 19th nationally, downed Gubser and Hubert Chodkiewicz 8-4 at the top spot. The Longhorns then won at number two, but Harknett and Müller rebounded for an 8-6 win against the 38th-ranked duo of Helgeson and Venus.
The win, just their third over the Longhorns since 1980, improves the Owls record to 16-5 overall and extends their win streak to 11. For Texas, the loss snaps a 14-match win streak and was just the Longhorns' second of the year. Rice closes out the 2006 regular season on Sunday, traveling to Dallas to take on Conference USA foe SMU at 12 noon.
Results
No. 31 Rice 5, No. 3 Texas 2
Doubles
1. No. 19 Searle/Haerle (RU) def. Gubser/Hubert Chodkiewicz (UT), 8-4
2. Varela/Beale (UT) def. Knupfer/Zivojinovic (RU), 8-4
3. Harknett/Müller (RU) def. No. 38 Helgeson/Venus (UT), 8-6
Singles
* 1. No. 35 Robert Searle (RU) def. No. 7 Travis Helgeson (UT), 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (5)
2. Ben Harknett (RU) def. No. 36 Roger Gubser (UT), 6-3, 6-3
3. Ralph Knupfer (RU) def. No. 39 Callum Beale (UT), 6-4, 6-3
4. Milan Mihailovic (UT) def. Tony Haerle (RU), 3-6, 6-3, 1-2, def. (inj.)
5. Miguel Reyes Varela (UT) def. Filip Zivojinovic (RU), 6-4, 6-3
6. Christoph Müller (RU) def. Michael Venus (TU), 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-4
Order of finish: D1, D2, D3, S2, S5, S3, S4, S1*, S6
Players Mentioned
