The Rice Thresher, Vol. 94, No. 21, Ed. 1 Friday, February 23, 2007 Page: 17 of 24
twenty four pages : ill. ; page 19 x 15 in.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
THE RICE THRESHER SPORTS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23,2007
17
Harknett continues dominance over ranked opponents
Owls fall to No. 43 Texas Tech and No. 20 Louisiana State University in final sets, face No. 18 Texas tomorrow
by Casey Michel
THKKSHKK EDITORIAL STAFF
Early deficits proved too much for
the men's tennis team to overcome
as they fell to No. 43TexasTech and
No. 20 Louisiana State University 4-3
last week. The Owls, who dropped
five spots in the polls to No. 35, nearly
pulled off impressive comebacks
against their opponents but dropped
the final singles matches.
Rice will travel to Austin to
face No. 18 University of Texas on
Sunday at 1:00 p.m. The Owls last
squared off with the Longhorns in
the regular season On April 12,2006.
Rice earned one of the team's most
stunning upsets, knocking off then-
No. 3 UT 5-2. In singles, senior Ben
Harknett and junior Ralph Knupfer,
both unranked, swept their ranked
opponents, putting the clinching
match in the hands of Robert Searle
(Will Rice, '06). Searle twice battled
back from deficits of 5-1 against
No. 7 Travis Helgeson and won the
final six points of the tiebreaker to
secure the win for Rice.
The Owls opened strong against
the Red Raiders Saturday, taking
two of three in doubles. Knupfer
and sophomore Tobias Scheil got
the Owls rolling with an 8-4 victory
at No. 1, and senior Jason Mok and
sophomore Christoph Muller sealed
the doubles point with an 8-6 win
at No. 2.
Texas Tech rebounded in
singles, knotting up the score
1-1 before then-No. 50 Harknett
started his match. Beating his
third consecutive ranked opponent,
Harknett cruised past 12th-ranked
Bojan Szumanski at No. 1, earning
his fourth consecutive victory since
returning from injury. Following
the match, Harknett jumped up to
30th in the country in the ITA/Fila
national rankings.
Assistant coach Efe Ustundag
(Baker'99) said that he thinks Harknett
is finally reaching his potential.
"His level [of play] is as good as
or even better than the top players
in the country," Ustundag said.
"And he is willing to compete a lot
more, to grind out each match. As
he has matured, he has become
a lot more resilient on the tennis
court, and his game has become
a lot more complete."
Unfortunately, Rice could not
maintain its lead for very long. The
Red Raiders won the first set of all
the remaining three singles matches,
WOMEN
From page 16
blocks, as the Mustangs fin-
ished up with 40 percent shoot-
ing to Rice's 25 percent. The
efficient, balanced offense that
had been a hallmark of recent
Rice wins disappeared against
the Mustang defense, as Neaves
was the lone Owl to score in
double figures with her 17-point,
10-rebound performance. The
rest of the team had only 11 as-
sists and turned the ball over 18
times. Besides Neaves, the rest
of the team shot 25 percent from
tlu' field for the game, including
20 percent from behind the arc.
On the positive side, the Owls
defense stepped up and created
17 turnovers.
Memphis (4-24,1-13) at
Rice (16-11, 9-5)
When: Sat. at 5:00 p.m.
Where: Autry Court
History: Memphis edged
Rice 62-61 on November
27, 1999, the two clubs'
only previous matchup
"We had a great start of the
second half defensively, but we
couldn't convert at theotherend,"
Williams said.
Poor shooting again hurt
the Owls last Saturday. The last
time Rice faced Tulsa—an 83-65
Rice victory Jan. 27 — the Owls
shot 54 percent from the field,
but that performance showed
no sign of itself in the most
recent match-up. Rice went cold
for most of the game, shooting
a particularly low 23 percent
from the field in the first half.
Fortunately for Rice, Tulsa's 32
percent prevented them from
building a large lead. After the
Golden Hurricane went up 13-
10 with 9:52 left, neither team
scored for almost five minutes.
With both teams firing blanks,
the Owls only found themselves
down 20-16 at the half.
Rice continued to struggle
offensively in the second half,
scoring only 12 points in the first
13 minutes. However, Neaves
helped Rice out of its rut. Her
jumper with 6:35 left in the game
sparked a 12-1 run that eventually
gave the Owls a 40-39 lead. After
a Tulsa basket took it back, the
()wls responded with a Berezhyn-
ska free throw and Stovall jumper
with 2:20 left. Down the stretch
the steady play and free throws
of Stovall, Neaves and junior
guard Kadie Riverin cemented
the victory.
"[Defense! kept us in the
game," Williams said. "Then we
finally made some shots down the
stretch to pull that game out."
The win over Tulsa was not
pretty by any stretch of the
imagination, as the Owls had to
overcome 29 percent shooting
and 13 turnovers. Neaves and
Stovall combined for 30 points,
and Neaves had 19 rebounds,
five blocks and four steals. The
rest of the team shot a horrific 13
percent from the field. However,
Rice once again played superb
defense, holding Tulsa forward
Jillian Robbins in check with 14
points. The Golden Hurricane
shot 37 percent from the field
and only 6-17 from the line,
while collecting 16 turnovers
to only 4 assists.
Houston Summer Jobs!
MILLER AQUATICS
Now Hiring-
• Lifeguard;'.
• fool M,iii.it"' i' •
• Lifeguard Instructor?
• Swim Instructor?
• C ustumei Service
I xcclh III Pay!
t throughout 1 i< uften
7im777-SWIM
Apply Online:
WWW.MILLERAQUATICS.NET
and while the Owls were able to battle
back to take the second sets, Texas
Tech held on to take the dual-match
4-3. In the final match of the day, Mok
rallied to win the second set against
Michael Breler, but fell just short,
losing 6-3, 6-7 (4), 7-5.
While Rice could not quite pull
out a victory, Ustundag said he
thought his team performed well
under pressure.
'TTie guys fought very hard to get
back into the match and force the
three sets," Ustundag said."But we
ended up just being a little bit short.
We didn't necessarily play well, but
the best we [coaches] can ask is that
[they] fight in every match, which is
what I think [they] did."
The Owls continued with their
tough road trip against the Tigers
last Tuesday in Baton Rouge, Lou-
is. LSU did well in doubles behind
the tandem of James Cluskey and
Ken Skupski, ranked third in the
country. Although Harknett and
junior Filip Zivojinovic were able
to hold off their opponents at No. 3,
Rice was unable to muster enough
energy to contend with the Tigers,
dropping the doubles point.
The Owls continued their slide
in singles, losing the first two
matches and falling behind 3-0.
However, Harknett made sure Rice
would at least get on the board,
knocking off his fourth ranked
opponent of the season, No. 9
Skupski, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. The Owls
continued their momentum with
wins by Mok and Muller, tying
the score 3-3. In the final match
of the day, Paroci went ahead
early against LSU's Colt Gaston.
But after losing the tiebreaker in
the second set, Paroci could not
hang on in the third, falling 4-6,
7-6 (1), 6-4.
IN FOCUS: MEN'S TENNIS UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Opponent Date
No. 18 University of Texas Tomorrow
Pac. Coast Doubles Champ. 3/1-4/07
St. Joseph's 3/04/07
No. 75t UC Irvine 3/06/07
No. 13 USC 3/07/07
No. 47 San Diego 3/10/07
No. 10 Florida State 3/16/07
No. 26 Miami 3/18/07
No. 59 Oklahoma 3/23/07
No. 75t William & Mary 3/24/07
No. 43 Middle Tenn. State 3/25/07
No. 23 Tulsa 4/07/07
No. 49 TCU 4/10/07
No. 39 SMU 4/13/07
No. 22 Michigan 4/15/07
Abilene Christian 4/15/07
Location
Austin, Tex.
La Jolla, Calif.
La Jolla, Calif.
Irvine, Calif.
Los Angeles, Calif.
San Diego, Calif.
Tallahassee. Fla.
Miami, Fla.
Jake Hess Stadium
Jake Hess Stadium
Jake Hess Stadium
Tulsa, Okla.
Jake Hess Stadium
Jake Hess Stadium
Jake Hess Stadium
Jake Hess Stadium
Time History (W-L)
1:00 p.m 2-22
All Day N/A
TBA First meeting
3:00 p.m. First meeting
3:30 p.m. 0-2
2:30 p.m. 3-1
12:00 p.m. 3-2
10:00 a.m. 0-4
1:00p.m. 3-4
1:00 p.m. 0-1
1:00 p.m 1-2
1:00 p.m. 6-6
1:30 p.m. 3-25
1:30 p.m. 10-21
11:00 a.m. 3-0
TBA 6-0
■ -
- - — —
.
Come work for the Rec Center's
Summer Youth Activity Program:
APPLICATION
PROCEDURE:
PROGRAM/
WORK DATES:
Pick up an application from the Operations Desk,
the Rec Center offices (on the second floor of the
gymnasium), or visit our Web site, listed below.
OPEN DATE: February 12
CLOSE DATE: March 21
Employment begins May 31—June 1 for training.
arid continues June 4—August 3 for the program.
All employees
receive the week
of July 4 off.
CONTACT: Tina Villard, Director
713-348-5398
tvilldici@rice.edu
www.rice.edu/syap
www.rice.edu/recreation
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Brown, David. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 94, No. 21, Ed. 1 Friday, February 23, 2007, newspaper, February 23, 2007; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443177/m1/17/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.