Rice University
Washington
Owls Storm Back to Shock Huskies
5/15/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
May 15, 2010
Following a script that has become as familiar as it remains improbable, the Rice men's tennis team rallied from the edge of elimination to knock 25th ranked Washington out of the NCAA Championship with a 4-3 win at the Baylor Tennis Center on Saturday.
The Owls will take #8 Baylor at 12 p.m. on Sunday, looking to advance to the round of 16 at the NCAA Championships in Athens, Georgia.
"It definitely was a great match," Owls head coach Ron Smarr said. "Our guys really fought hard and they showed again today they have learned how to finish a match. There's no doubt that the tough schedule we played during the year is making a difference. We jumped on the players a little bit after doubles and I think we competed hard in singles on every court. I mean we had to, they're a top 25 team. We were actually down in a lot of first sets, so we persevered," he added.
Just as they had while winning the Conference USA title in April, the 33rd ranked Owls (15-10) trailed 3-1 before storming back against a higher ranked opponent.
After a sluggish performance in doubles, the Owls found themselves down 1-0. More ominoisly, Washington had not lost a match this year when the Huskies had won the doubles point. Sophomore Christian Saravia knotted it a 1-1 with a straight set win over Alex Rosinski at No. 6, but the deficit grew to 3-1 when senior Bruno Rosa and sophomore Isamu Tachibana, two of the key elements in the C-USA clincher, both fell in straight sets. Rosa's loss snapped a 10-match unbeaten streak for the two-time, All-American.
Junior Oscar Podlewski started the comeback with a three-set win at No. 4 to close to the margin to 3-2, but the Huskies (17-6) appeared on the verge of advancing to Sunday's match when Derek Drabble took a 5-2 lead in the third set against Sam Garfoth-Bles at No. 3. However, though the scoreboard told a different story, Garforth-Bles said he felt the match was in his hands even with the deficit in front of him.
"I didn't feel out of the match at all,' he said. "I felt like I was playing good tennis, and I was only down one break in the set. I felt fresh, but I think the guys from Washington were feeling the humidity more as the match went on. Winning the conference title the way we did, there was no chance we were thinking it was over. It's a pretty good script we've been following," he added.
Garforth-Bless battled all the way back to force a tie break in the final set, evening the match at 3-3 by winning 7-4. That left the match to be decided at No. 2, where Rice's Michael Nuesslein had fought back to win a tie break in the second set.
Unlike the match vs. Tulsa in the conference final when he lost his singles match and then cheered his teammates on to the win, Nuesslein was now the one his teammates were all watching.
"It's way more fun to be the one on the court," Nuesslein said. "Both Christian (Saravia) and I lost at the conference and our teammates had to pick us up. Today, when Bruno and Isamu lost, it was our turn to pick them up. That's what has made us so strong at the end of the year. If our match doesn't go well, we turn to push our teammates. We're all pulling for each other," he stated.
Nuesslein responded by holding serve in the decisive final game, closing out Pac-10 Freshman of the Year Kyle McMorrow 6-3 to send Rice back to the Round of 32 for the fourth time in the last eight years (2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010).
"Baylor is obviously a very tough team and they are playing at home, Smarr said. "We have got to play better in doubles if we want to have a chance to stay alive and keep playing next week."
#33 Rice 4, #25 Washington 3
Singles competition
1. #87 J. Nedunchezhiyan (UW) def. #27 Bruno Rosa (RICE) 7-6 (7-4), 6-3
2. Michael Nuesslein (RICE) def. Kyle McMorrow (UW) 5-7, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3
3. Sam Garforth-Bles (RICE) def. Derek Drabble (UW) 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4)
4. Oscar Podlewski (RICE) def. Martin Kildahl (UW) 4-6, 6-0, 6-4
5. Tobi Obenaus (UW) def. Isamu Tachibana (RICE) 7-6 (7-1), 6-2
6. Christian Saravia (RICE) def. Alex Rosinski (UW) 6-3, 6-4
Doubles competition
1. #75 Kyle McMorrow/J. Nedunchezhiyan (UW) vs. Michael Nuesslein/Christian Saravia (RICE) 5-6, unfinished
2. Derek Drabble/Martin Kildahl (UW) def. Isamu Tachibana/Bruno Rosa (RICE) 8-4
3. Tobi Obenaus/Alex Rosinski (UW) def. Oscar Podlewski/Dennis Polyakov (RICE) 8-2
Match Notes: Rice 15-10; National ranking #33 Washington 17-6; National ranking #25
Players Mentioned
