Rice University
Texas
No. 35 Rice Upsets No. 16 Texas in Austin
2/25/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Feb. 25, 2007
AUSTIN -- Rice seniors Ben Harknett and Jason Mok both stepped up in dramatic fashion with thrilling third-set rallies to secure the No. 35 Owls' 4-3 upset of No. 16 Texas on Sunday afternoon in dual-match action in Austin.
With the Owls down 3-2 in the team scoring, Mok rebounded from a second-set loss to go up 5-2 in the third against the Longhorns' Josh Zavala at No. 5 singles. Zavala rallied back to trail just 5-4 and was serving to tie, but Mok picked up his game and didn't relinquish another point on his way to the 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 win that tied the team standings and sent all eyes to the third-set tiebreaker at No. 1 singles.
After splitting the first two frames, Harknett found himself down 6-5 and facing match point against Miguel Reyes Varela. Harknett fought off four match points to force the tiebreak, but again found his back against the wall at 6-4. The Owl continued to battle, scoring three-straight points to go up 7-6. The Longhorn scored again, but Harknett and his team would not be denied as he fired off two-straight points to clinch the victory.
Texas won the doubles point, taking two of three hotly contested matches, all decided by two games or less. Ralph Knupfer and Tobias Scheil won for the Owls with a nail-biting 9-8 (9) decision against No. 57 Dimitar Kutrovsky and Josh Zavala at No. 1 to start the day.
Filip Paroci struck the first blow for Rice with his commanding 6-2, 6-1 victory against Kutrovsky at No. 2 singles. After Texas went up 2-1, the Owls struck again as Knupfer posted a 6-1, 7-5 triumph against No. 53 Milan Mihailovic at No. 3 singles, knotting the team score at 2-2 with the final three matches heading to third sets.
With the win, Rice improves to 7-3 on the year. The Owls take a break from dual-match competition next weekend when they head to LaJolla, Calif., for the 118th Pacific Coast Doubles Championships.
Results
No. 35 Rice 4, No. 16 Texas 3
Doubles
1. Knupfer/Scheil (RU) def. No. 57 Kutrovsky/Zavala (UT), 9-8 (9)
2. Reyes/Mihailovic (UT) def. Mok/Müller (RU), 8-6
3. Diaz Barriga/Deussner (UT) def. Harknett/Filip Zivojinovic (RU), 9-7
Singles
1. No. 30 Ben Harknett (RU) def. Miguel Reyes Varela (UT), 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7)
2. Filip Paroci (RU) def. Dimitar Kutrovsky (UT), 6-2, 6-1
3. Ralph Knupfer (RU) def. No. 53 Milan Mihailovic (UT), 6-1, 7-5
4. No. 76 Luis Diaz Barriga (UT) def. Christoph Müller (RU), 2-6, 6-4, 6-1
5. Jason Mok (RU) def. Josh Zavala (UT), 6-1, 4-6, 6-4
6. Rook Schellenberg (UT) def. Hoony Shin (RU), 6-2, 6-3
Order of finish: D1, D2, D3, S2, S6, S3, S4, S5, S1
Players Mentioned
