Rice University
Texas Tech
Rice Takes Tech to the Limit
5/13/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
May 13, 2011
Ron Smarr's Rice Owls battled back from a sluggish start to take 22nd ranked Texas Tech to the wire before falling to the Red Raiders 4-3 in the opening round of the NCAA Men's Tennis Regional at the Baylor Tennis Center in Waco on Friday.
"We dug ourselves a hole with how we played doubles," Smarr said. "We very easily could have come home with a 4-0 loss. But we really turned it around in singles and I was very proud of the way they reacted to the challenge in front of them. We went from having no energy in doubles to taking the match right to them," he added.
The 43rd ranked Owls were staggered after dropping the doubles point in all three matches and faced the daunting task of winning four of six singles matches against a Tech lineup that featured a pair of players ranked in the top 30. Tech doubled the margin to 2-0 when 23rd ranked Raony Carvalho downed Rice's Harry Fowler, 6-0, 6-2, but the Owls stormed back to push the Raiders to the brink of elimination.
Sam Garforth-Bles put the Owls on the board with a straight set win at No. 4 and senior Oscar Podlewski capped a standout senior season by running his record to 16-6 while losing just two games in a straight set win at No. 3 to tie the match at 2-2.
Junior Christian Saravia made it three straight wins for the Owls in singles with a straight set win at No. 5 to put the Owls up 3-2.
Tech's 26th ranked Gonzalo Escobar drew Tech even with a straight set win at No. 2, leaving the matchup at No. 6 singles to determine which team would advance to the round of 32 on Saturday.
Rice freshman Philipp Seifert, who had learned earlier in the week that he would take the place of Michael Nuesslein in singles because of a recurring ankle injury and was playing a singles match for the second time since March 30, took Tech's Raphael Pfister to three sets before falling 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 to bring the Owls season to a close at 17-10.
"This was one of the most challenging years we've had because of injuries," Smarr said. "Michael Nuesslein's ankle never really was healthy, and we also lost Isamu Tachibana. Those were two big parts of the team that won the conference last year. But this team showed a lot of heart and Efe (Rice assistant coach Efe Ustundag) did a great job of keeping them together. They really battled back to earn that ninth straight NCAA bid.
"Oscar really was playing great tennis down the stretch for us," Smarr said. "It was the result of a lot of hard work on his part and he earned every bit of the success he found this year. He's a great young man and this team is really going to miss him next year," Smarr added. "Now we have to get back to work and start preparing for the 2012 season."
#22 Texas Tech 4, #43 Rice 3
NCAA Men's Tennis Championships First Round
Baylor Tennis Center - Waco, Texas
May 13, 2011
Singles
#1 #23 Raony Carvalho (Tech) def. #84 Harry Fowler (Rice) 6-0, 6-2
#2 #26 Gonzalo Escobar (Tech) def. Peter Frank (Rice) 6-1, 6-1
#3 Oscar Podlewski (Rice) def. Rafael Garcia (Tech) 6-3, 6-2
#4 Sam Garforth-Bles (Rice) def. Vitor Manzini (Tech) 6-1, 6-1
#5 Christian Saravia (Rice) def. Gabriel Wanderley (Tech) 6-2, 6-2
#6 Raphael Pfister (Tech) def. Philipp Seifert (Rice) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
Order of Finish: 1, 4, 3, 5, 2, 6
Doubles
#1 #20 Carvalho/Garcia (Tech) def. Fowler/Podlewski (Rice) 8-1
#2 #50 Escobar/Manzini (Tech) def. Saravia/Nuesslein (Rice) 8-4
#3 Jeff Bryan/Pfister (Tech) def. Frank/Garforth-Bles (Rice) 9-7
Order of Finish: 1, 2/3
Players Mentioned
